MARKET NEWS

Happy New Year everyone! On a general note, the National Association of Realtors reports the median existing home sales price in November 2024 rose 4.7% from the year prior, the 17th straight month of year-over-year price hikes. At the same time, the average 30 year fixed rate loan stood at 6.91% as of December 18th, below its 2024 peak of 7.39% in May.

BRIGHT MLS, which covers most of the Mid-Atlantic region, reports December home sales were up 4.2% over November. Next time we will be able to bring you complete end of year information for 2024 but we are definitely moving from the 'new normal' to just plain 'normal'.

New Market Reports!

Curious about what is happening in the local real estate market for Del Ray and parts of Rosemont? Click here to get the report or see the bottom of this blog post for specific data, sales, and inventory.

Interested in a different zip code? Let me know and I'll get you what you need.

RESOURCES

Shirley Temple says don't get scammed . . . 

Sometime in the midst of the December holidays both Michael and I got "scam" calls that could have had disastrous results. I got the first call. It was (supposedly) from an Alexandria police officer calling to say I had missed a jury summons for federal court and needed to pay a fine or a subpoena would be issued for my arrest. The well spoken caller gave me a name and badge number, knew my address, had an answer for every question and just about had me - particularly because I had received a jury summons earlier in the year.

And then I remembered a Washington Post story about a similar scam in Baltimore and how hundreds of people had been defrauded. When I said I was going to hang up and go to the police station I was told the "judge" would definitely issue a citation if I "broke the chain of communication". I hung up. Michael got the same call about a week later. All this is to say scammers are convincing and vigilance is paramount. Two good resources are Scam Advisor and the American Banking Association. I would also highly recommend a recent podcast, "Confronting the Shame, Success and Stigma of Scams" with Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post.