Georgetown DC Homes, A Market Report, And an Obama Effect?

It’s not all gloom and doom - at least not if you recent Georgetown DC Homes & Townhome sales as your barometer. In a period where some extraordinary homes in the DC Metro area are seeing significant depreciation, first “third” (I missed the first quarter, sorry!) statistics for Georgetown DC homes and townhomes appear, dare I say, encouraging?

Georgetown DC Homes & Townhome Sales

"First Third 2008" vs "First Third 2009"

*Rounded to the nearest whole number
 Per MRIS Data

Are Georgetown DC Homes a Beacon of Hope?

The numbers seem to indicate yes, but we don't really know. And why not? The 2009 data pool is just too small, in my humble opinion, to draw any conclusions about the state of the market in Georgetown, much less luxury or higher end properties in the Greater Bethesda and other close-in DC areas. I’ll follow this up with a look at other luxury micro-markets, but, for now, some speculation:

Is There a Such Thing As An "Obama Effect"

A question that we’re often asked is about changes in administration and how they effect / stimulate the DC housing market. Our experience shows that administration changes do not bring that many buyers to our area. Most Members of Congress no longer bring their families with them and, instead, commute to their respective home states. There are great stories about both Senators and Congressmen who share fairly spartan rental accommodations near their DC offices and some who even "live" in their offices. And, despite a regional price drop over the past couple of years, the Washington Metropolitan Area is still a very expensive place to buy a home and administration officials (including many new Members of Congress) are oftentimes giving up more lucrative salaries to serve the public interest.

Is There An Obama Effect in Georgetown?

When changes in administrations do bring buyers, they are often those who can "afford" to purchase in a high priced market and, therefore, they end up in places like Georgetown, Cleveland Park, Kalorama and other luxury DC neighborhoods. So perhaps Georgetown's "good" real estate news can be attributed to new members of the administration. Without tracking actual buyers, this can only be speculation -- but using history as a barometer and seeing the statistics noted above, it works for us!

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