Home sale prices still high after the housing bubble burst

Home sale prices were relatively flat in the late 90s, but in the early 2000s—as DC’s population grew for the first time in 50 years—prices skyrocketed, reaching historic highs. Though median prices fell a little during the housing market crash, they didn’t come down much and have continued to stay high after the recession ended. The Washington region remains one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

The story is a little different in each ward. In the late 90s, homes in Wards 2 and 3 were considerably more expensive than homes in other areas, with median home prices around $500,000 in early 1996. Median prices in other wards, meanwhile, were clustered together between $100,000 and $200,000 until 2001, when a few wards rose above the pack. Gentrifying neighborhoods pushed up prices in Wards 1 and 6 to over $600,000 by the end of 2013. Increases followed a bit later in Wards 4 and 5, as homebuyers began looking in more parts of the city to find affordable homes.

Prices also rose in Wards 7 and 8, but have since fallen to the low $200,000s. While Wards 2 and 3 still lead by a good margin, other wards are more spread out across the price spectrum now than in the 1990s.