November 23, 2011 | 8:33 AM | By

D.C.’s Rising Home Prices By Neighborhood

People purchasing homes in many D.C. neighborhoods are buying them for more than the asking price, a sign of D.C.’s robust housing market, Washington Business Journal reports. One such neighborhood is Anacostia, where some fear displacement of low-income and black residents.

Increasing home values fuel gentrification. With such a tight housing market, the option to sell becomes enticing to homeowners, particularly those who bought their homes years ago for much lower prices. Longtime homeowners may walk away making money, but neighborhood income diversity could decrease as only wealthier people can afford such home prices.

The median sales price in D.C. in October was $400,000, down from $413,000 in October 2010. Neighborhoods that saw sales price gains compared to a year ago included Anacostia, Hillcrest, Capitol Hill Northeast, Chevy Chase, Penn Quarter, Shaw and Sheppard Park, according to Long & Foster.

… Citywide, sellers got more than 97 percent of their asking price in October. In Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Southwest and Waterfront saw median sales prices of more than 100 percent.

Read more at: www.bizjournals.com

  • ZinDC

    This sounds like good news for formerly poor residents.  They walk away making a huge profit on their homes.  So, income diversity decreases because the formerly poor now have substantial profit.  Renters would not own those houses even if the formerly poor kept them.  Basically, this article needs to decide: are the poor residents leaving as poor as they were, or are they leaving richer than they were?  If the latter is true, then this sounds like a good thing for formerly poor residents. 

  • ZinDC

    This sounds like good news for formerly poor residents.  They walk away making a huge profit on their homes.  So, income diversity decreases because the formerly poor now have substantial profit.  Renters would not own those houses even if the formerly poor kept them.  Basically, this article needs to decide: are the poor residents leaving as poor as they were, or are they leaving richer than they were?  If the latter is true, then this sounds like a good thing for formerly poor residents.