Recovery is coming faster for the Washington D.C. metro area than any other metropolitan region in the country, according to a new report.
The region's average real estate prices rose 4.4 percent over the first six months of the year, according to a Clear Capital market survey. The real estate data collector predicts that from July to the end of the year, prices will rise by another 2.8 percent.
The strength of the D.C. market contrasts with the story for the rest of the country, where prices continue to trend downwards. Across the United States, prices sank in the first six months by 3.2 percent. Clear Capital noted that despite the continuing negative trajectory, there is less price volatility in 2011 than last year.
In the report, the worst-performing major real estate market was in Virginia Beach. Clear Capital said that persistently high unemployment has kept prices on the decline. Values are projected to drop there by 8.6 percent in the second half of 2011.
Despite these positive signs for the Washington metro market, prices are still down significantly from the 2006 peak. By the Examiner's analysis, regional home prices tumbled by 42 percent from the peak of the market to the nadir. If Clear Capital's projections hold true, prices will make back 1/3 of that loss.
