Despite who takes the White House in November, one of the capital city bedroom cities will boom, most likely continuing a year-long recovery. Fairfax County, Virginia has always been one of Congress' favorite housing destinations for their families who relocated to the D.C. area once they are elected or re-elected.

In the last 30 days compared to the same period in 2007, buyers wrote on about 32 percent more condominiums, overall sellers are getting about 98 percent of their asking price, and the average subsidy for buyers is more than $6,000.

In surrounding communities of the seat of government, federal employees and beltway bandits watch housing statistics like presidential polls. While the average sales price of a condominium has dropped 18 percent, the total sales volume the last 30 days (Sept. 22 – Oct. 21, 2008) has evened out at more than $49 million.

Sellers are giving buyers nearly the same amount in seller subsidies, averaging this year at $6,230 -- just $54 more than last year at this time. The highest subsidy was $18,900 during the reporting period. Meanwhile, about half of the sellers gave up no subsidy whatsoever -- another sign that the market is turning in the sellers' favor.

Historically, records show that as goes Washignton, so goes the east coast. Hopefully, it holds true this time.

Published: October 27, 2008

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Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.