Capitol Hill's Condo Glut

We're stealing this real estate post almost directly from CHS, who discovered Redfin's cool graphs before we did. But we'll refine the focus to condos to avoid outright plagiarism. Redfin's numbers show that since October '06, the number of Capitol Hill condos on the market has ballooned from just over 100 to just under 250 currently. Meanwhile, the average list price has hovered around $475/sq. ft., while actual sales price has declined significantly since last April, from over $475/sq. ft. to about $435/sq. ft. (For reference, on a 400 sq. ft. condo, that's a price drop of $16,000.) Economists will not be surprised that the peak in inventory corresponds very nicely with the subsequent drop in sales price.

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By MvB in News on August 19, 2008 3:55 PM

Comments [rss]

MvB

Thanks for the heads up, J. I probably would have caught it on the RSS feed anyway, and it's not like I research these things--as your comment makes clear--but it's the thought that counts!

jseattle

While your, ahem, analysis is probably right on, read the note on redfin's site about that particular chart:

http://www.redfin.com/help/search/market-data#House:_$/Sq._Ft

"It is important to remember that the two lines do not represent the same houses so the lines should not be interpreted as a ratio of list to sale price."

While it's a slab of agent-friendly help text, it does mean you could interpret the lower prices as reflecting the different, low-price nature of the current inventory. But I'm with your read because it makes for more interesting bloggin'.

Meanwhile, tomorrow I'm writing about some development being readied for 15th Ave. E if you want to plan ahead for your next post.