WASHINGTON - With federal workers back in office, buyouts, and layoffs, you might expect there to be a shift in the real estate market across the region - but experts say the numbers do not reflect that just yet.
What they’re saying:
FOX 5 spoke to real estate experts and reviewed data to see how much truth there is to viral social media posts spreading misinformation about the D.C. housing market - turns out, not much.
“I’ve seen some posts where people are panicking saying the D.C. market is crashing and that is totally not the case,” said Kris Paolini, principal real estate agent at Redfin.
Bright MLS, which tracks all listings, says they are simply not seeing an inventory surge in the D.C. area right now.
In fact, their data shows February 2025 and February 2024 are nearly identical in terms of homes for sale in the DMV.
There were 2,829 new listings that came onto the market in the two-week period between February 3 and February 16, 2025, compared to last year with 2,820 new listings on the market, according to Bright MLS.
“We are hearing from buyers and some sellers that they want to wait it out and see how things play out in the next few months,” said Jay Nix, an agent with Compass Real Estate. “So right now - no fire sales, no deals to be had yet.”
Nix said the condo market, however, is seeing more deals since they are not as expensive as they were five or six years ago.
“If interest rates go down, I think there’s enough pent-up demand that values and prices could spike again,” Nix said. “So if you’re thinking about buying and your job is secure, I would just plan on buying something because if the rates go down, people who can afford to buy and have solid jobs are going to get back in the game - it’ll be competitive and it won’t be pretty.”
Experts tell FOX 5 it will take time to see any real impact in both inventory or housing prices from federal workers who were either laid off, relocated, or decided to take the buyout.
“I think it would probably take a couple months for people to come to terms with the fact that they can’t find new employment, that they want to leave the area,” said Paolini. “We have seen very few requests from clients who want to sell just because they lost their job. I think more than anything the impact has been buyers putting their search on hold.”
This time of year is generally when more listings come on the market in preparation for spring.
“In some local markets we do see an uptick in new listings activity this year but nothing about the geographic pattern of listing activity suggests that it is related to homeowners who are or were Federal government employees. For example, new listings were 27% higher in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, but were 30 lower in nearby Stafford County. Listings were up by 7% in Alexandria but were down by 2% in Arlington,” according to Lisa Sturtevant, Chief Economist at Bright MLS.
As for housing prices - they still continue to trend up because of the low inventory here in the DMV.
[Collection]fox5dc.com