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Despite Slump, N.Va. Housing Prices Still Top Charts
Large townhouses are typical of new development in Northern Virginia. The median sale price for a single-family home in the region last year was $495,000.
(By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
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Contrast that with neighboring Montgomery County, where the median sale price last year was $475,000, up 9 percent.
The number of sales in Prince George's increased, too, by 8 percent to 13,592. That was more than in either Montgomery or Fairfax counties, both of which have more residents but saw a falloff in sales.
Growth in Prince George's, where median prices are still lower than in Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, is in part due to many new developments, some of which can be pricey. For instance, in the Fairwood development in Bowie, single-family houses start in the $500,000s and can surpass the $900,000s.
Although such prices are unrealistic for many buyers, "you can still find one-bedroom condos for $150,000 in Prince George's," said Stacey Barton, an agent with Long & Foster and a 13-year resident of the county. "People can't afford Montgomery; they don't always want to live in D.C. Prince George's is a great county since it's still close in. You can still find space in Prince George's."
Even in Prince George's County, those who want space will have difficulty finding it for less than about $300,000. A two-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath brick townhouse in Bowie recently listed for $395,900; an older three-bedroom, two-bath rambler in Bowie recently listed at $369,549.
In the District, the median sale price rose 7 percent to $450,000 as the number of sales dropped off. Jackie Talpa, managing broker with Weichert Realtors' Cleveland Park office, blamed some of the slowdown on increased inventory created when panicky investors tried to sell. Speculators accounted for up to 25 percent of the market during the heady years of double-digit appreciation, Talpa said.
"You had a lot of speculators in new communities and conversions," Talpa said. "They would flip them and make a lot of money. That ended abruptly at the end of '05."
In some parts of the District, especially east of the Anacostia River, prices continued to climb. "The market in Southeast appreciated a lot because of lower prices" to start with, Talpa said.
