Road to Recovery in Northern Va and DC Metro Area

11 Jun 2009 at 16:49

Chuck

I had great opportunity this morning to attend a very informative seminar about the state of the economy in the Northern Va and DC Metro area. The seminar was hosted by the Northern VA Association of Realtors (NVAR) and took place in Herndon. The keynote speaker was Dr.Fuller. Dr. Fuller is a Dwight Schar Faculty Chair and University Professor; Director, Center for Regional Analysis for George Mason University and is a region expert for the DC metro area. Dr. Fuller is often asked to consult local and regional businesses on economic trends for the area.

We also had the Urban Land Institute show us some insightful data on the true cost of housing in Washington DC Metro area vs Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William county areas.

So, let’s get down to it! What did Dr. Fuller have to say about our area and the economy for the DC region moving forward?

1.    Our area in general is out performing every other metro region handily. Our local unemployment is currently at 5.5% vs. most metro areas that are in the 8.6% range and up! One of the main reason of course is our area federal jobs. I read recently that 1 of 8 jobs in our area is a government job and that 1 in 4 job is directly related to the government sector in some way.
2.    We are now into our 18th month of this recession. This makes this recession longer and deeper then the 1990 and 2001 recessions. Since March all the economic indicators have been moving in a positive direction. This includes home sales, housing inventory, number of days on market, number of canceled contracts and of course interest rates. The positive numbers have been slow to come in but they are moving in the right direction.
3.    Prices for homes above $400,000 are still seeing a lot of stress however, the bottom end (single family homes below $400,000 and townhouses below $300,000) a seeing quick sales. Home prices are now at April 2004 levels! Full PPT

Next up was an informative discussion on the true cost of housing in the DC Metro region. This is the first hard factual data that I’ve seen that spells out exactly how much a house costs when you factor in distance from work. They even had a handy calculator that broke down exactly what you will spend if you move further from work.

Overall, an excellent seminar presented by true experts. I will upload the PowerPoint presentation as soon as it is available on-line.

If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to comment( or drop me an email!)!

Thanks for reading!

Chuck Rifae