It’s Little More Than a Rounding Error

Contract activity for March 9 - 15, 2025 in the Metro DC area was essentially unchanged - down just 0.3% compared to the same seven-day period last year.

Key Takeaways

• What a difference a rate makes! With mortgage rates hovering near 7% all year until early March, the roughly quarter percent downward tick over the last two weeks has had a positive impact on buyer activity.
• Every week of 2025 so far has seen a drop in contract activity compared to 2024, and the weekly drops have been as much as 20%.
• This past week there were almost 1,200 new contracts, by far the best week of this year, and there were only 3 fewer contracts than last year. That’s little more than a rounding error.

Why it Matters

• Even more encouraging, four of the six jurisdictions we track actually posted increases in contract activity, and that’s the first time this year we’ve seen that.
• Homes also sold a bit faster (an average of 27 days) compared to a year ago (an average 32 days)
• As we have noted here repeatedly, one week doesn’t make a trend – but we’re encouraged.