Rising unemployment is the shifting of the DC -Woningmarkt: Altos
What does unemployment in DC look like?
An increasing unemployment rate may just as well be the antithesis for the growth of housing sales on the housing market: it is difficult to buy a house or make housing payments without stable employment.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate for the entire nation was 4.1% at the end of 2024. In the DC metropolitan area, the unemployment rate was 5.3% compared to the same time frame. Data and common sense show that federal job losses emphasize the labor market of DC. So how does the housing market react?
Weekly home inventory goes up
Does inventory on the DC -Woningmarkt feel the impact of the raw unemployment situation? This week’s stock data gives us a lookout point to this week’s market dynamics.
The inventory for single-family homes in the DC home market rose to 3,768 this week. That is an increase of 5.8% compared to the week before. This week’s data also show the increase in the stock level of DC compared to 2024. According to the data, there are now 12.6% more houses on the market than 2024. This gap will continue to rise in a high unemployment market with high interest rates. However, this is still less than what we have seen historically in March. For example, the stock level in March 2020 was 6,075 houses – which is almost double what we see today.
New lists are going up, but remain historically low
Altos uses new data on real estate entries as an important indicator of seller activity on the DC home market. “New entries” are the houses that were for sale in a certain week and were added to the active inventory.
According to this week’s data, new entries occurred during the week that ends on 7 March. Around 601 single -family homes and 549 condos are on the market in DC, which is an increase of around 20% this week. The volume of new lists grows every year during the spring months, and this year the rates of the seller seem to accelerate faster than in recent years.
As unemployment in DC dramatically increases, one place will measure the impact in the growth of the weekly new lists. The 2025 levels of new entries until the beginning of March have been around 300 to 400 a week. This level is essentially the same as in recent years and is considerably fewer sellers than what would have been usual in the years before the pandemic.
“View this weekly signal to keep track of how quickly changes in employment levels start changing the housing market. At the end of March and April, if the weekly seller volume exceeds 800 single-family new offers weekly, that is a signal from a changing market, “said Altos Research founder and President Mike Simonsen.
In anticipation of the sale of houses, it comes up again
Altos’ weekly hanging contract details offer a vantage point to the trends in the DC -Woningmarkt. The last five weeks of hanging house sales data tell the story:
- Week from February 14: 655
- Week of February 21: 596
- Week of February 28: 598
- Week of March 7: 629
In anticipation of the sale of houses, a statistics for understanding the demand side of DC question and question situation is.
“If we notice that new entries and inventory are climbing while awaiting the sale of the home wall is down, that is a signal that we have to keep an eye on,” simons added. “This week are new offers, inventory and awaiting housing sales, so there is no worries for now.”
Compared to the post-Pandemic years, the current sales percentage has not changed much from mid-March. Here is the comparison:
- March 2025: 629
- March 2024: 715
- March 2023: 636
- March 2022: 1,068
Between March 2022 and March 2025, the sale of houses were only changed by 13% on average. Here is the entire historic hanging sales diagram for at home:
Price reductions are falling again
The percentage of offers with price reductions, while at seasonal lows (26%) is still greater than last year (22%) that indicates a slightly weaker demand by potential home buyers than a year ago.
“Price reductions are an insightful question indicator. And they can be the earliest leading indicator to see if the demand for houses in DC falls due to mass reductions from the government, “Simonsen said. “If offers are not made, sellers have their prices lower to generate the question. So we look at every peak in price reductions. “
Where does the DC -Woningmarkt go?
With every day that passes, the changes in the labor market and government policy with regard to federal employment continue to influence residents in DC, house prices continue to rise in some of the prominent postcodes of DC. In the postal code of the city 20001 – which is a short drive or metro ride removed from Capitol Hill – the average house price was, for example, $ 949,999 during the week of 7 March, according to Altos Data. For context, that is more than $ 18,000 more than the week before.
As we withdraw the spring season in the spring, keeping an eye on important indicators is essential for evaluating the DC home market.
