A recent post from The District Measured, which uses data from The District of Columbia’s Office of Revenue Analysis, shows that average single family home prices in DC have increased four fold over the past 25 years.  That is nearly double the average increase for the metro DC area as well as for the national average.   Over this 25 year period (1991-2016) the average annual rate of appreciation for DC’s single family homes was 5.9%, compared to 3.4% for the metro area and 3.1% for the US national average.

The graph below shows the DC, metro DC and national average home prices for single family homes over the past 25 years.

The DC average home prices are mostly in line with the metro area and national averages until about 2002, when you start to see more rapid annual growth in DC and a smaller fall in home prices during the recession.

The article looks at possible causes for this difference. The differences in the average income growth of these three groups do not differ enough to explain the more dramatic increase in DC’s home values.  The article does suggest that part of this increase could be a supply and demand issue. You see a similar growth in number of households in DC as you do in the metro area as well as nationally, but you see very little growth in the number of single family homes in the District.

Check out your home’s value today at www.mydcsmarthomevalue.com and see if you are surprised by what you find.  If you are thinking of selling or refinancing, call us at 202-243-7777 for a more detailed and accurate analysis of your home’s current value.