Changing Hands: Capitol Hill Home Sales Data for October

Last month, 33 single-family homes sold in the broader Capitol Hill area, from H Street NE to the north, 14th Street to the east and Southeast Freeway to the south. Most of these sales resulted from September contracts between buyers heavy with cash and willing to make sellers happy about more than the weather.

The northeast side of the Hill saw a “beater” home on Emerald Street NE rise in price from $385,000 to $435,000, in a skirmish amongst developers. A home on 7th Street NE at Massachusetts Avenue sold for $1,604,000 after six days. The vast majority of of sales in Northeast fell between $600,000 and $800,000.

Here’s sales data on the northeast side of the neighborhood for October. DOMP is the number of days on the market. Full listing details can be found here.

The southeast side of the Hill had 15 sales in October; averaging around $1 million each. A home on the 300 block of 5th Street SE had a whale of an escalation, from $899,000 to $1,077,000. That was more than 15 percent more than its list price, which is much less common in the upper price brackets than in the middle and lower.

Full listing details can be found here.

My takeaway for October? This was the last of the summer wine. There will be stragglers between now and late January, and then we’ll see if 2014 was a peak year for home sales.

I believe sellers, particularly in further reaches of the Hill, will no longer be able to take multiple offers for granted. Buyers, who have far greater high-rise rental options than they did this time last year, will have more to choose from and more time to make decisions. But be careful, buyers — we’ll need a little more inventory to tell if the market is truly turning.