“Supply Towers Over Last Year”: DC Listing Service Warns 

Listing service Bright MLS summed up Washington, D.C.’s housing market in one troubling line: “Supply is towering over last year.” That’s been the trend for the last few months, with active listings well above multi-year averages for this time of the year. Add in the latest surge in mortgage rates—on top of mounting DOGE-related layoffs, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands—and the D.C. metro area appears to be heading toward a combination of housing and labor market pains. 

Here are three key takeaways from MLS’s weekly report (for the week ending April 13) on the housing markets in Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. The common denominator across all three regions: supply—and a lot of it. Inventory has surged this spring, well above levels seen over the last three years:

• Contracts keeping pace with last year. The Bright MLS service area had 6,709 new purchase contracts for the week ending April 13. With contracts roughly flat, ticking up 0.8% from the same week in 2024, new contracts have now exceeded last year for five consecutive weeks. Market headwinds have not fully discouraged buyers as mortgage rates continue to see declines, but it may be a bumpy spring season depending on movement in the economy.

• List prices plateau at the record high. The Mid-Atlantic median list price has held at a record high of $449,900 for three consecutive weeks, marking a 4.6% increase over the same week last year. Last year’s peak list price occurred in May. Whether this year’s peak arrived earlier than usual, or will spring ahead in future weeks, is yet to be seen.

• Supply is towering over last year. There were 36,112 active listings at the end of the week, a 27.8% increase compared to the same time in 2024. While inventory is showing encouraging growth this year, buyers looking for specific price points or home types may find the market tight. Supply still has a long way to go before reaching pre-pandemic levels seen in years like 2019.

A snapshot of MLS’ coverage area shows that active listings were up 27.8% for the week ending April 13 compared to the same period last year. Week-over-week, listings rose by 3.1%.

In Washington, DC, active listings were up 47.5% versus the same period one year ago. Week-over-week, listings rose 3.9.% 

Visualizing the data…

A growing number of homeowners in the D.C. area are listing their properties just as the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed above 7% last week.

Coupled with news of 280,000 DOGE-related federal layoffs and declining consumer sentiment amid escalating trade war headlines, the outlook for the D.C. swamp has been darkening.