Questionable Trend Alert: Obama Transition Increases D.C.-Area Listings

I spotted this blog post recently on move.com, a real estate listing site.

“Year-over-year new listing counts across the U.S. decreased by nine percent on average in December, however new listings increased by 70 percent in Washington, D.C. according to REALTOR.com®. Washington, D.C. experienced the highest increase in the nation due to the current transition to President Barack Obama.

‘All real estate is local and this is clearly evident today as we watch local conditions exclusive to Washington, D.C. adjust against national trends for the Presidential transition,’ says Errol Samuelson (no relation!), Realtor.com president.”*

The 70 percent figure is comparing December 2007 to December 2008. I find the presidential transition claim suspect. At least, it’s unlikely this 70 percent is composed of people whose jobs are transition/federal government-related. If anything, the listers are people who got caught up believing that there would be tons of new buyers coming to the area. So these erstwhile bust waiter-outers decided Oh some nice Chicagoan’s going to love my place.

Hey, this was Geraldine Ferraro’s theory. As she told me mid January, she’d recently listed her Penn Quarter condo. “I figured it’s a good time to sell with all the new people coming into Washington.”

*Realtor.com is the National Association of Realtors’ official website.

Image by Lost Albatross, Flickr Creative Commons