oh, I just read the comments...they're pretty ridiculous. Considering the federal government is downsizing, there are furloughs, and younger people are fleeing federal service, their assumptions are largely false (shocking, for the WSJ). DC itself (not the burbs, which the article lumps in) is growing - more people want to live in DC, more young families are staying in DC when they have kids - is another reason for the high property value. It's fantastic in my opinion (and not just because I own property in DC!)

Anonymous wrote:I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

That would be awesome, seeing as how we bought ours for $400k.

One thing DC has that SF and NYC don't is a largely young and transient population - people come for 2-4 years, and leave...so there is a large turn over yet our property values are rarely effected. Similarly, in the 'burbs with the political appointees and military populations coming and going.
We are also a city with VERY educated young people who carry considerable amounts of student debt making it difficult for them to qualify for a mortgage, so rents stay ridiculously high.
It's a market that's difficult to compare to SF and NYC in my opinion, which isn't worth much!

Read the comments in the article. Do you agree?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

That neighborhood is still damn scary. You'd have to be nuts to spend that much money to live there now. The people who really made money were developers.

Agreed. That neighborhood has a looooong way to go before I'd consider living there- streetcars or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

That neighborhood is still damn scary. You'd have to be nuts to spend that much money to live there now. The people who really made money were developers.

I haven't been there at night, so I can't really say. But the houses on say K St NE are just gorgeous -- the trees are beautiful, you can walk over to Union Station or down to H st trolley (when and if) or to New York Ave metro. With the new Giant at 4th and H NE, really anything in that triangle below florida is going to be a slam dunk. (Are they calling it Tribefla yet?)

Anonymous wrote:I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

That neighborhood is still damn scary. You'd have to be nuts to spend that much money to live there now. The people who really made money were developers.

Mayor Gray just allotted another 400 million to streetcar development in FY2014's budget. They're coming eventually.

Anonymous wrote:I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

Wow that's a big IF!

Everything's relative. SF and NY markets are so grossly distorted and out of reach of nearly any "normal" people that of course DC seems like a bargain compared to that.

But it's still, IMO, an expensive market relative to the vast majority of the rest of the country.

I think DC was underpriced for houses walking distance to a metro (under 15 minutes) and urban retail. So it's just now catching up. If/when the H street trolley becomes a reality, I bet you won't be able to buy a house for less than 800 - 900k anywhere south of Florida Ave NE.

I didn't feel like it was patronizing. But I don't think the first line was really accurate. I've never thought of DC as relatively affordable. Yes, it's lower than NYC and SF, but it's always been expensive.

Here is the link:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578489202247919668.html

Are they late to the party? First they said we were doomed because of government cuts, and now, they're saying we're boomtown in jobs and real estate. Are you guys feeling it too, or is it just those at the top?

Washington, D.C.: The New Boomtown