Photo-illustration by Justin Metz.
As Covid altered what people needed in a home and where they wanted to live, the Washington real estate market went mad. Listings that get dozens of offers, houses selling for hundreds of thousands above asking, and buyers making contingency-free bids sight unseen have all become commonplace. Two years into this extreme housing shuffle seemed like the right time to take stock of which areas have experienced the most growth in price and sales volume. Using data provided by Bright MLS, the region’s multiple-listing service, we compared stats from the first quarter of 2020 (i.e., the beginning of the pandemic) with the fourth quarter of 2021. The dozen Zip codes we profiled were chosen because they reflect a diversity of reasons people have moved during this period.
Nowhere in greater Washington have prices shot up more drastically than in these ten places.
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These Zip codes—the ten most expensive places to buy a home anywhere in Washington—were among the costliest markets even before the pandemic. But several have managed to get much, much pricier.
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Sales volume—the number of homes selling—in these ten Zip codes has risen more dramatically than anywhere else in the region.
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Including whether it will get any easier to buy a home here.
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This article appears in the April 2022 issue of Washingtonian.
Senior Editor
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazine’s real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia.
Michele Lerner ([email protected]) covers real estate, interior design, and personal finance.
Associate Editor
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. Her work has appeared in Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Petworth.
