A blog about real estate, interior design, and the home in the Washington, DC area.
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Real Estate by The Numbers: Average Days on Market
By
Mary Clare Fleury
In real estate, days on market (DOM) means the number of days between when a house goes on the market and when a seller accepts a buyer's contract.
For those looking to buy or sell real estate, DOM is an important statistic: In a buyer’s market, the average DOM is higher because inventory takes longer to sell; in a seller’s market, the average DOM is lower because homes are snatched up quickly.
This chart compares the average DOM in eight Washington-area counties from December 2006 to December 2005. It doesn’t take a genius to see the trend—in all eight counties, the number has virtually doubled.
If you are in the market to buy a home, this means you can probably afford to take your time—the days when buyers put down an offer on the spot are long gone. If you are trying to sell, you may have to be patient.
Of course, there are always exceptions. In a market like Washington's, close-in locations never go out of style.
| | December 2006 | December 2005 | | Alexandria | 81 | 35 | | Arlington | 72 | 36 | | Fairfax | 97 | 38 | | Loudoun | 101 | 37 | | Montgomery | 83 | 38 | | Prince Georges | 66 | 29 | | Prince William | 103 | 41 | | Washington DC | 69 | 36 |
Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems
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Comments
Mary Clare, could these numbers be highly underestimated, given (what I percieve as) the rampant practice of manipulating the DOM number? I'm reading article after article about agents pulling stagnant listings off the MLS, making slight adjustments, and resubmitting. This effectively resets the counter to 0. I think buyers out there should be much more aware of this trend.
Posted by: QuestionableEthics,
"If you are in the market to buy a home, this means you can probably afford to take your time—the days when buyers put down an offer on the spot are long gone. If you are trying to sell, you may have to be patient."
It's journalism like this that created the down market for Realtors. Thank you so much Mary Clare for adding fuel to the fire.
Posted by: ,
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Posted at
11:00 AM/ET, 01/17/2007 in
The Real Estate Market | Permalink
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