With March resale statistics now available, it is apparent that 2004 is on pace to set yet another record for Washington-area home sales. Almost 12,000 existing homes were sold last month, a 13 percent increase over March 2003. First-quarter sales reached 29,000, which is incredible, considering that only 10,500 homes were sold in the first quarter of 1996.
How is it possible that anyone in the Washington area who wanted to move hasn’t already moved? And is it possible for existing-home sales to increase every year?
Clearly, a lot of the region’s sales activity in the past few years has been due to increased home values. When your little town house shoots up to $450,000, it is natural to start thinking about selling and making a move. Maybe you could trade up to a bigger home farther out, or a condo in the District. So a lot of area home sales have been people playing musical houses with one another.
Existing-home statistics are also growing, however, simply because every year there are more homes to be sold. Take Montgomery County, for example. In the past four years, about 10,000 new homes have been sold in Montgomery. Some of those homes are now entering the market as resale homes. This increases the number of home sales.
This does not explain away the current sales frenzy. While Montgomery County may have seen a respectable 10,000 new-home sales during the past four years, some 64,000 existing homes were sold during that same period. That is 38 percent more than the preceding four-year period.
— Chris Sicks
The statistics in this story reflect a metropolitan area that includes the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Howard, Charles and Frederick; the Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford; the city of Alexandria; and the District.
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