In the D.C. area, where the majority of federal workers that were furloughed live, you would think homebuyers would have taken a break from house searches until the area’s largest employer got back to work. But the numbers tell a different story.
Looking over the pending sales (contracts written), buyers kept competing on the low inventory of homes during the shut down. Measuring the contract writing from October 1 – 22, 2013 showed that overall, buyers wrote 17.9% more contracts than the same time last year in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Federal employees, contractors and those who rely on the economy driven from the government seemed to not worry much about whether or not to write contracts during the shutdown.
Contracts in Northern Virginia as a whole were flat with a drop of less than 1%, but the other areas surrounding surged ahead.
Prince George’s County, MD saw a sharp increase with 30% (PG Co., was also the hardest hit after the housing bubble popped). Montgomery County was up 35%; while D.C. came in at 29% above the same period last year.
