Washington DC Metro Real Estate Market Finally Slowing Down in June 2022!

If you look at the performance on Wall Street for the first half of the year, it’s the worst since 1970, driven mostly by inflation. Despite being at historically lower numbers, mortgage rates are up to 5.81%. The challenge, as you know, is that rates haven’t risen this fast since 1984.

Realtor.com revised its forecast for 2022, saying that the median home price will appreciate by 6.6% by the end of the year which, much like the mortgage rates, is historically good appreciation, but it just seems low by recent standards. They believe that sales will be down slightly while inventory will be up by about 15%. Also, they expect that unemployment should stay where it is, at about 3.5%, while wages should increase YOY by about 3.8%. I think that wages number is low as employers are now competing for employees.

In the Mid-Atlantic states, in 9 of the last 10 weeks, more homes have come on the market than have gone under contract. Inventory is up 21% from 2021 and that’s due mostly to a dampening in demand. As you can see from the stats below, there is quite a bit of variety depending on where you live. I believe a lot of people who refinanced when rates were lower are now sitting tight because rates are almost double what they were at the beginning of the year.

	Median Price	Change since last year %	Sales	Change since last year	Active Inventory	Change since last year	Days On Market	Change since last year
Alexandria City	$606,500	-10%	302	-4%	242	-33%	15	0%
Arlington County	$675,000	-8%	286	-24%	422	-24%	21	5%
Clarke County	$529,990	19%	29	4%	26	-4%	19	6%
Fairfax City	$722,500	13%	42	-21%	47	21%	10	0%
Fairfax County	$690,000	6%	1598	-30%	1608	-8%	10	-17%
Falls Church City	$950,000	-3%	17	-37%	16	-43%	54	315%
Fauquier County	$555,000	16%	105	-38%	144	-1%	16	7%
Federick County VA	$376,000	7%	142	-21%	237	5%	20	100%
King George County	$454,950	18%	26	-55%	77	12%	15	15%
Loudoun County	$695,000	5%	699	-28%	672	42%	8	-11%
Manassass City	$495,000	22%	51	-24%	60	11%	9	50%
Manassass Park City	$357,500	-2%	26	-13%	26	30%	9	29%
Prince William County	$532,500	10%	740	-29%	639	17%	8	14%
Stafford County	$500,000	11%	319	-27%	310	21%	10	25%
Warren County	$362,000	6%	72	-29%	99	-11%	16	-24%
Jefferson County WV	$372,494	9%	116	-21%	176	80%	18	64%
Frederick County MD	$480,000	16%	521	-17%	410	-14%	11	0%
Montgomery County MD	$600,000	8%	1348	-23%	1192	-14%	12	-14%
Baltimore County MD	$333,000	7%	1036	-22%	945	-14	11	0%
Washington County MD	$300,500	17%	188	-23%	239	8%	17	26%
Baltimore City MD	$236,000	9%	925	-24%	1676	-13%	23	-4%
Washington DC	$723,000	3%	892	-22%	1889	-2%	26	18%