Highlights, Haircuts, and What's Ahead for 2025
Hans & Steve Wydler
Hans & Steve Wydler
As predicted, early signs point to a strong start for 2025. As you can see from the charts above, the number of homes sold in the DMV over the last two years has been significantly lower than in 2019, the last "normal" year pre-COVID. In fact, sales were down by 31% in DC, 27% in Montgomery County and 29% in Fairfax County. Meanwhile, prices have surged 31% in DC, 41% in Montgomery County and 46% in Fairfax County.
So why were unit sales down so much in the past two years? A big part of the answer lies in the pandemic-induced shift to remote work, which allowed people to accelerate their life plans and pull forward transactions that would’ve otherwise happened naturally over several years. In addition, the dramatic rise in interest rates over two years ago created a "lock-in" effect, where families were understandably reluctant to give up their low 3% mortgages in favor of new loans with rates well above 6%.
That said, we're starting to see signs of a return to more "normal" levels of activity. Life happens, and like haircuts, at some point, you just need to bite the bullet (yes Steve, this is a hint). Buyers are acclimating to the higher interest rate environment, and the renewed efforts to bring workers back to the office is forcing some of the covid migration patterns to unwind. The return of federal employees to the office will be particularly good news for the DMV. Note, in talking to our Compass national team, several of the cities/states that experienced an incredible run-up in 2020-2022 are now seeing the backside of the mountain (think places like Austin, Miami, Palm Beach, etc.).
2025 may not be all rainbows and butterflies, however. Fiscal, trade and geo-political policies could create all sorts of headwinds for our local residential markets, including inflation, rising interest rates, potential federal workforce downsizing, civil unrest, among other concerns. For now, though, we are incredibly busy helping our clients achieve their real estate goals, one family at a time. If you're thinking about making a move, please give us a call.
Before we tackle what lies ahead in the New Year, we want to thank you again for all your support in 2024! Here is a quick recap of some of last year's highlights:
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
As predicted, early signs point to a strong start for 2025.
This time of year we get a lot of questions about “timing the market.” Our “timeless” advice to give you the best chance of an optimal outcome is that the timing of yo… Read more
What a difference a month makes!
Next Tuesday is election day and one thing is clear, the polls are all over the place and no one knows who is going to be our next president.
Rolling into the fall, we felt a collective sigh of relief from the market when the FED finally implemented the much anticipated interest rate drop.
The Washington DC Metro area (including Northern Virginia and Montgomery County) has seen a 5% increase in sold volume, an almost 7% increase in average sales price, a… Read more
Undoubtedly, you’ve been reading about changes in the residential real estate market.
The Skinny on Market Seasonality
Wydler Brothers have been selling residential real estate for over 20 years in the DC metro area. Along the way, they’ve achieved numerous awards and recognitions, including being recognized as “The Most Innovative Real Estate Agent in America” (Inman, 2014), written several articles for The Washington Post, authored a book, “Inside the Sell”, co-founded a real estate tech company which sold to Move, Inc. in 2013, and built Wydler Brothers into a highly respected boutique brokerage with 70 agents and employees which they sold to Compass in 2019. Currently, Wydler Brothers is among the top 3 teams in the DMV and was the #1 Compass Team in 2022.
