None of the 10 major jurisdictions comprising to Washington metropolitan area had what you might call robust home-buyer activity to round out 2023.
But three of the 10 – Arlington, Alexandria and Prince George’s County – performed better than the rest in the monthly Bright MLS T3 Home-Demand Index.
Figures for December were reported Jan. 11 by Bright MLS, the region’s multiple-listing service.
The open-ended scorecard gauges buyer-interest conditions as High with any total above 130; Moderate from 110-129; Steady from 90-109; and Slow from 70-89. Any score less than 70 suggests the market of available homes is limited
Even the locality topping the chart for December (Arlington) was in sluggish territory. Its ranking of 72 was on the low end of slow, a reflection of inventory and availability issues coupled with the typical slowdown throughout the holidays.
In the second tier were Alexandria (61) and Prince George’s County (59). And then came all the rest: the District of Columbia (44), Falls Church (45), the city of Fairfax (42), Fairfax County (41), Montgomery County (38), Loudoun County (36) and Frederick County (32).
Overall, the regional score for December was 45, down from 56 a month prior but a number that “should improve in the coming months,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Bright MLS.
“Buyers are watching mortgage rates and will be eager to act when they see more choices available on the market,” Sturtevant said.
For 2023, the regional T3 index peaked at just over 90 in springtime, stayed relatively unchanged through summer before seeing a decline toward the end of the year.
For full T3 data all the way to the ZIP-code level across the region, see the Website atchttp://homedemandindex.comhomedemandindex.com.
