The Washington area’s real estate market is showing the first marks of the impact of the debt ceiling showdown last month. The number of homes that went under contract in July sunk dramatically by 11 percent, according to a new report from the RBI Pending Home Sales Index.
“While month‐over‐month contract activity tends to decline in July, the debt ceiling debate dominating media coverage for most of the month probably caused consumers to pause before making a purchase decision,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc. and a consultant to RBI.
Still, he said, the 4,563 signed contracts in July was the highest number for the month since 2005. Pending home sales are used as a barometer for market activity in the coming months.
Median home sale prices also slipped from June to July, a shift due to seasonality and the end of the selling season. The area’s median sale price of $370,000 was also about 1 percent below last July, but Miller attributed that to the increased demand created by the federal homebuyer’s tax credit last year.
