The Washington, DC metro area is swimming in homes for sale as the spring buying season speeds up, Realtor.com reports.
Listings in the District, and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs, soared 56% last week compared to a year ago, leaving the countrywide increase of 28% eating its dust.
(The study, for its part, only discusses the numbers in percentages and not the numerical sum of those listings.)
This surge follows hefty gains earlier in 2025, with inventory jumping 35.9% in January and 41% in February year-over-year, after already climbing 20% to 30% from June to December 2024.
The swell comes from a combo of fresh listings — up 24% last week — as well as a slowdown in buyer action.
New construction, especially condos and townhomes built over recent years, is also flooding the market.
Nationally, mortgage rates have eased from 7.25% in mid-January to 6.82% now, per Mortgage News Daily, boosting inventory everywhere.
Yet DC’s spike stands out, with new listings this year already running 11.9% ahead of 2024, but still 12.8% shy of 2022 levels, per Realtor.com data.
Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, ties the trend to federal belt-tightening.
“The adjustment period following federal layoffs and funding cuts has likely put some Washington DC home searches on hold, both for those whose jobs have been directly impacted and those who may be concerned about what’s ahead, and the data hints at these challenges,” she says in a release.
With DC hosting the nation’s biggest share of federal workers, the ripple effects are hard to miss.
Prices, as supply increases, are slipping.
The DC area’s median list price dropped 1.6% year-over-year last week, outpacing the national dip of 0.2%.
Nationally, the per-square-foot price ticked up 1.2%, suggesting more modest homes are hitting the market.
Hale sees broader implications ahead: “While DC has the largest share of federal workers in the country, other highly federally employed markets could see similar shifts in the coming weeks or months,” she noted.
“While I expect many households will choose to stay in the area and pivot to find new job opportunities, some will likely choose to leave and retire or find a job elsewhere.”