Nicole Raz
WMAL
WASHINGTON (WMAL) — The warm weather is bringing out home buyers in the DC metro area this summer–many of which are home buyers from last winter.
“We’re about 15 percent ahead than we were this exact same time last year,” says John Heithaus with RealEstate Business Intelligence, adding that there is a bit of a backlog in the area’s housing market.
“It was a pretty cold winter and that’s not good for real estate. People just don’t go out and look at houses,” Heithaus told WMAL. “It could have been that people laid back in March and April and then got going in earnest in May. That’s exactly the type of closing activity we’re seeing now.”
Steady employment, high consumer confidence and low mortgage rates in the area are also helping, he said.
Townhomes continue to be the fastest sellers with a median of 13 days on the market.
“A townhouse lends itself to lower maintenance and ease of use,” he said, which are the same reasons that retirees looking to downsize and millennials looking for a starter home lead demand.
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