Report: New condo prices are down, sales shoot up - Washington Business Journal:

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Prices for new and converted condos fell the most insuburbamn Maryland, down 7.6 percent. The drops in Northern Virginisaand D.C. were lower, at 2.9 and 2.6 Delta, an Alexandria research firm, said two factors contributecd to the increased sales historically low interest rates and the busyhomebuying season. A totall of 618 units went under contract durinbthe quarter. For the first half of the year, 928 units went under contract, with Arlington County and Alexandria leadintg the area with 242units sold. There are 8,4800 units in projects now being marketed for and the number ofcancelled 694, in the quarter was the lowest since early 2006.
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafrita Foundation changed its Art Place at Fort Tottem from condos to apartments and will go before the planninh board July 2 to seek approval for 529 apartment as part of the firsyt ofthree phases. decided to reworm its 80 units at 1444Irvin St. in Montgomery County, KB Home and Centex Homeas cancelledtheir Aventiene-Phase I, which woulds have delivered 30 residential Delta CEO Greg Leisch said the dwindlingb pipeline — now at its lowest in five yearse — will likely result in a shortage by causing effective prices to rise. Prices tend to rise when there inventory-to-sales ratio is at three yearsor less. It is currentlyu at 1.
7 years in Arlingtonn and Alexandriaand 2.8 years in D.C. For the it is 5.1 years. Because the number of projectes set to deliver inside the Beltwaty will drop to near Leisch said prices will rise sharplh between 2010and 2011. This is good news for projects like the which is among thelast high-enx condominium projects to deliver in Bethesda. “Therew are really very few upscal condoprojects standing, and clearly none are going to starrt any time soon,” said Marc Dubick, presidenft of Duball LLC, which developecd Lionsgate. “So when you look at ours with 30 unitz leftto sell, that’s only about a nine- to 18-month supply at most.
Then there is Park Potomac with 40 left and the Adaggiko with30 left. That is only 100 unitse in Montgomery County. Upscald buyers are going to be hard pressec tofind high-end unitsd in the area,” he said. Leiscyh predicts that apartment projects plannee as condominiums and converted to rental such asWilliam C. Smith Cos.’ 82-unit Park Vista in Southeast D.C., may convert back to condominium projects to meet the cominyg shortage before new projectsare “There is no lender who will loan on a new condlo project right now,” he said.
“We’vre got about 10,000 units that were converted to apartmentws when the market soured and they will be the ones to convert back to meet the first wave of demandarouns 2011, instead of having new construction.” Leisch cited Northwest D.C. and Tysons Corner as areas that will host the firstf wave of newconstructionn — expected in 2012 to 2015 when lenders regain confidence in the Leisch also noted a change in buyer behaviot compared to the boom: “Three yearsz ago, at the height of the people signed up to buy in advancw and were willing to walk away from theirr deposit when it came time to But in three years peoplde get new jobs, move get married, get divorcede and go through major lifestyle changes.
Now, people are buyinvg with settlements in 90 days and in that they are seeing the actual unitand it’s a serioud decision.” The result? The contract cancellatiom rate has dropped to 15 to 20 percent, down from 65 percentt last year.