NPR has an interesting story earlier this week about the link between travel time and house value. Not surprisingly, the story Featured examples of Metro Washington DC area (I guess their reporters tend to stay near home …).
It seems that if the price home for the entire DC Metro region declined by about 11% last year, there was a distinctive model for local variations in these data. Ashburn, located about 40 miles west of downtown DC has seen average prices have fallen about 18% in the same period, while in DC itself, home prices rose about 3%. Close-in suburbs like Arlington and Bethesda have experienced similar increases in their average prices. It seems that people begin to realize that there are significant trade-offs to live further and spend an hour or more each day in traffic. Some of these tradeoffs are intangible, like time spent with family. Others are quite tangible and can be measured in dollars. With gasoline nearly 4 $ Per gallon ($ 3.75 at the Texaco up the street from where I type right now), the difference between a ten mile ride and a 40 mile journey begins really add up.
It is very important to know why orange line condos in Arlington celebrated value even if the market apparently become saturated with condos over the past five years and more. Arlington has a winning job (literally) in the management of its increased density without increasing traffic than many predicted. In fact, Arlington had a population increase between 2000-2005 in any something like 5% with almost no increase in numbers of traffic on major roads during the same period. The existence of an established network transit explain this apparent incongruity. Like the fact that most new homes built during that time, was located very around the network.
The fact that people are less willing to spend half their day in the car began to change modes country's development. Atlanta, image type of urban sprawl in the 1990s has reduced the peak of construction by something like 70% in recent years while building the center holds regular. This pattern is repeated throughout the country, especially in Eastern cities who saw significant erosion of their housing from downtown – places like Baltimore and Philadelphia.
There are bigger, more complex, social changes that are part of this change, of course. The average household size continues to decline nationally and there are more people living alone. These people do not generally seek expansive lawns and cul-de-sac that the typical exurban life. Instead, they seek opportunities for interaction humans on their street, they want to be able to walk to conduct most of their daily activities and they do not need large basement or a hedge of fifty feet to do these things.
Joshua Stearns is a real estate agent in Arlington, VA and specializes in first time home buyers, South Arlington properties, and environmentally friendly homes. Visit http://www.stearnssellshomes.com to learn more.
The Baltimore to DC commute, it’s easier than you think!