Washington
The 10 Most Expensive Zip Codes in Washington
Kristen and Brian Frazier, with their daughter, moved from Del Ray to Nice Falls final yr. {Photograph} by April Greer.
As Covid altered what folks wanted in a house and the place they wished to dwell, the Washington actual property market went mad. Listings that get dozens of gives, homes promoting for lots of of hundreds above asking, and consumers making contingency-free bids sight unseen have all develop into commonplace. Two years into this excessive housing shuffle appeared like the appropriate time to take inventory of which areas have skilled probably the most development in value and gross sales quantity. Utilizing information supplied by Vibrant MLS, the area’s multiple-listing service, we in contrast stats from the primary quarter of 2020 (i.e., the start of the pandemic) with the fourth quarter of 2021. The Zip codes we profiled had been chosen as a result of they replicate a range of causes folks have moved throughout this era.
These areas—the ten most costly locations to purchase a house wherever in Washington—had been among the many costliest markets even earlier than the pandemic. However a number of have managed to get a lot, a lot pricier.
Nice Falls | 22066
For a lot of the 2010s, costs in Nice Falls flatlined. Walkable improvement was in. Automotive-dependent sprawl was out. The hamlet’s empty-nesters began decamping for condos in locations like downtown Bethesda. In the meantime, households keen to depart DC for Arlington or McLean couldn’t abdomen going one other 20 minutes farther. Covid modified the whole lot—Nice Falls is now the costliest place to purchase a home within the area, and brokers say there’s no signal of issues slowing. In January, Daan De Raedt, cofounder of the Nice Falls–primarily based brokerage Property Collective, wrote an all-cash $1.85-million supply for a shopper on a home listed for $1.69 million. “We misplaced to a proposal that went to $1.95 million,” he says. “It is a recurring factor. This isn’t only a one-off.”
Although solely about quarter-hour from Tysons and Reston, the bucolic environs and huge a lot of Nice Falls can generally really feel extra rural than suburban. For the dual-income households who as soon as prioritized downtown commutes however now need two house workplaces plus land, house for the children, and entry to nature, the placement is a dream. Kristen and Brian Frazier traded their 1,500-square-foot home in Del Ray for a 4,300-square-footer on two acres in Nice Falls final yr. (She works in advertising and marketing and doesn’t anticipate returning full-time to her DC workplace; his company gross sales job is totally distant.) “We dwell on a wooded lot,” says Kristen. “All the things is inexperienced. It’s simply typically lovely.” They’ve loads of room for company, too, so grandparents can now simply come to assist with their daughter. Says Kristen of their former life: “Now we have actually by no means appeared again.”
Chevy Chase DC | 20015
This leafy pocket of higher Northwest has lengthy been a fascinating subsequent cease for households with a wholesome price range who’ve outgrown condos and rowhouses nearer to downtown. Nevertheless it wasn’t precisely booming—between 2018 and 2019, the median value of properties bought there ticked up a half p.c. Then the pandemic got here alongside and remodeled it into one of many hottest DC hoods since 2010s-era Logan Circle. One of many few areas inside metropolis limits dominated by indifferent homes (with yards!—and fast entry to Rock Creek Park!), Chevy Chase DC out of the blue checked all of the bins for hordes of downtown denizens sick of sharing partitions 24-7. The large drawback? Whereas all of Washington is tormented by an especially low stock of homes on the market, the difficulty is especially acute there. As soon as folks transfer to Chevy Chase DC, they hardly ever wish to go away. Stephanie Cheng and Erik Huseby, federal workers, moved there in 2007 for a single-family house in a great college district. In 2020, they upgraded to a bigger home together with their children. “This neighborhood has this nice residential really feel,” says Cheng. “On the identical time, we’re near downtown DC and the zoo. We will stroll to Rock Creek Park and Lafayette Park, and to retailers like Politics and Prose and to eating places.” The household is hardly distinctive. “[Many] of my purchasers within the neighborhood are consumers who already dwell there however want more room—however can not pull themselves away from their beloved group,” says Compass’s Jennifer Knoll. Residents who can’t discover a greater home generally keep put and renovate. The principle type discovered within the neighborhood—boxy brick Colonials—occurs to be preferrred for rear or aspect additions.
Georgetown to Berkley | 20007
Most famously house to Georgetown, the Zip code additionally contains Foxhall, Berkley, Burleith, Glover Park, and a part of Wesley Heights and the Palisades. The neighborhoods are among the many metropolis’s ritziest, however brokers say the record-low rates of interest of the Covid period lured consumers who would possibly in any other case not have thought-about them—upping the strain on their already low stock. “Folks went, ‘You understand what? I wish to transfer to Georgetown. I can now afford it,’ ” says Jan Evans of TTR Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty. She not too long ago listed a three-story, two-bedroom rental there. Throughout the first two hours of the open home, 103 folks trooped by way of. It had so many non-public showings on prime of that, says Evans, that the lock on the door jammed from overuse. Rowhouses in neighboring Burleith and Glover Park have additionally drawn outsize curiosity. Washington Superb Properties agent Jaci Appel listed a Glover Park townhouse final Might that received bid up six figures over asking in 48 hours in the marketplace. Working within the Zip code’s favor: One of many fundamental strikes towards it—its lack of a Metro cease—is now much less essential to a variety of consumers. In the meantime, a few of its massive attracts—proximity to water, parks, and outside eating—inched up on folks’s want lists. Head farther north into 20007 and bigger single-family homes in locations similar to Berkley and the Palisades take over. These areas went nuts throughout the pandemic for the standard causes—their properties supply separation from neighbors, a lot of outside house, and quiet-for-the-city environment. Says Evans: “I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years. I’ve by no means seen a market like this.”
Bethesda | 20816
This slice of Bethesda has been the reply for lots of parents who swore they’d by no means go away DC—then, over the last couple years, discovered themselves determined for the sort of house and quiet that solely the suburbs can supply. Its location—a straight shot up Massachusetts Avenue, inside 20 minutes of downtown—has, based on brokers, made it fascinating for well-paid millennials nonetheless intent on spending a lot of their social lives within the metropolis. “I simply received a cellphone name from a younger couple. They’re attorneys, however they’re working remotely,” explains RE/MAX’s Carolyn Sappenfield. Even with out children, their rental not feels sufficiently big. “They stated, ‘We by no means thought we’d be calling you so quickly.’ ” Agent Matthew Maury of Stuart & Maury additionally attributes the realm’s “raging forest hearth” of a market to this subset of consumers: “It’s the burbs and the grass. And so they can nonetheless get to the workplace when they should.” The Zip code’s vary of architectural types is one other draw. You’ll discover midcentury-moderns, bungalows, and Colonials, amongst different types. The world gives fast entry to outside sights, too. The Capital Crescent Path cuts by way of it, and its western swath abuts the Potomac River and C&O Canal towpath—which explains the kayaks and standup paddleboards strapped atop luxurious SUVs.
Figures replicate median house costs within the fourth quarter of 2021 and value development in contrast with the primary quarter of 2020 (when the pandemic started).
This text seems within the April 2022 concern of Washingtonian.
Senior Editor
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a workers author, and have become a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the journal’s actual property and residential design protection, and writes long-form characteristic tales. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation right into a wrongful conviction stemming from a homicide in rural Virginia.
Michele Lerner ([email protected]) covers actual property, inside design, and private finance.
Affiliate Editor
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. Her work has appeared in Exterior Journal, Washington Metropolis Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Initially from North Carolina, she now lives in Petworth.