In the shadow of the White House and Washington Monument is a Zip Code that houses a community unlike many across the country. The median household income runs near $100,000 for these 15,000-plus residents. And the average price for a home runs at $762,882 -- up 4.36% in October 2007 over the same month last year. What makes this community one of our Hot Markets is that October marks the 6th consecutive month this Northwest Washington neighborhood has seen an increase in prices.

The other statistics are pointing toward a community already pulling out of a buyers market and entering a strong sellers market. For investors and homebuyers alike, however, property owners won’t get this information from the local papers who keep beating the drum of plunging sales. Instead, 20015 keeps marching forward to a beat of a different drum:

While listings are up 43 percent, they are being absorbed very quickly. With only a 3-month supply of homes on the market, the prices are headed up and the days on market are dropping -- down last month by 13 percent. Since sales are outpacing last October, and the sales price is up, this combines to increase the total dollar volume by 77 percent.

Why all the growth? Jobs are on the upswing in the whole Washington DC metropolitan area. Homeowners and investors have been sitting on the sidelines for about 20 months now, thus prices have settled and the listing inventory swelled. Now, as prices start trending upward, the home-buyers from outlying areas are making their way back into the stream of sales and eating up inventory. The result -- a sellers market in the making.

Published: November 27, 2007

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Mr. Carr has covered real estate since 1989. He is the author of Real Estate Investing Made Simple. Got a personal real estate issue? Post your questions and comments at Anthony’s blog: commonsenserealestate.blogspot.com.