The DC market appears to have turned. Suggest you begin searching for a home now if you intend to get good value vs 2 years ago.
Sales volume rose 10 percent in January over last year in northern Virginia. The worm has turned.
I need more data before I see this "stabilization" as anything except a dead-cat bounce. Of course I live beyond PW County, where there is a 9.5-month supply of inventory. In the 500K+ range, there's a 3-year supply in my zip code. I am paying $1,750 a month in rent for a house listed for $675K. Who's going to blink first?
I currently see prices being dropped daily on current listings, listings at a higher level than last year and increasing, foreclosures in N. VA increasing at a dramatic level, and builders with more land in the pipeline.
There was a pick up in this market in Winter 2005-2006 from people who thought they were getting "deals", and now those are in foreclosure. There was an assumption that prices would rise in the Spring "as they always do", and thus the panic buying that Winter.
A daily read for me is www.bubbleinfo.com, (great realtor in Carlsbad, CA), and he pointed out a chart a year ago that shows how the "Spring Selling Season" has been getting shorter and shorter for the last several years. There is a flurry of activity in February/March/April, and then it flatlines for the rest of the year.