DC real estate in Trump's first 100 days: 'I have never seen a spring market like this'

It’s officially been 100 days since President Donald Trump took office — and the D.C. housing market is still chugging along.

Since November’s election, industry insiders have speculated about how the president’s policy decisions could affect housing, especially in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding markets in Maryland and Virginia. During his campaign, Trump promised cuts to the federal workforce and sweeping taxes on imports to the United States — and since January, he's started following through on those vows.

Speculation about how those policies would disrupt the housing market reached a boiling point just about a month into Trump’s term, when cuts to the federal workforce had many wondering whether the area would see a surge of home listings as newly unemployed homeowners left the area.

At the time though, data from Homes.com showed that as of February, neither D.C. nor the surrounding suburbs had seen any drastic changes in the number of active listings, sold properties or median sales prices.

Now, 100 days in, exclusive data from Homes.com shows that trend has mostly held. But the reality on the ground is more nuanced, according to local real estate agents.

“I have never seen a spring market like this,” said Jennifer Touchette, an agent with the Your P&rtners team at Compass.

From a numbers standpoint, the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) housing market has followed roughly the same trajectory during Trump’s first 100 days as it did during the same time period in 2024, according to new data from Homes.com.

As of April 13, homes were sitting on the market for about 90 days in the DMV and 95 days in Washington, D.C. Last year, those stats were 100 and 95 days.

Active listings have increased slightly, but that’s on par with national trends.

Prices have fluctuated somewhat. In the DMV, the median sale price for a home is $595,000, up from last year’s $575,000, and properties are selling above asking.

Of course, it’s difficult to tease out the effect of federal job cuts and economic policy, especially in the spring, when more people tend to list their homes for sale and consider moving anyway. At the same time, there have been nationwide shifts in the housing market that have taken hold apart from any White House decisions.

There’s also the possibility that big changes in the size of the federal workforce could be driving countervailing trends. Some people could leave the area, but others who once might have moved to take advantage of the region's reputation for stable government and government-related employment may decide the outlook no longer seems so bright. It's difficult to know how much of that has happened or has yet to occur.

The numbers tell only part of the story, though, according to local real estate professionals.

A look across neighborhoods and price ranges reveals that buyers and sellers are reacting to recent upheavals in their markets in different ways.

In McLean, Virginia, for example, real estate agent Caleb Smith said his team at Washington Fine Properties has had a strong spring season.

“I think there’s a chance that we may have never had a better spring or we’re on pace for that. It’s gone really well,” he said in an interview.

On the other hand, Touchette, of the Your P&rtners team, said “April was a bit of whiplash.”

That “whiplash” roiled mortgage markets and tracks with the White House’s tariff policy, which was rolled out at the beginning of the month. As of April 10, the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.62%, the lowest average since December. A week later, the average had skyrocketed to 6.83%, enough of a change to push buyers out of the market, according to Touchette.

“Buyers are fragile,” she said. “Interest rates are all over the place. They’re nervous. They’re particular — they might have to see a lot before they say yes.”

Trump has said the tariffs are a solution to the trade deficit between the U.S. and its trading partners, a deficit he described as an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy” of the country. The taxes seek to reinvigorate the manufacturing industry in the U.S. and incentivize consumers to purchase American-made products, among other benefits the administration has named.

It’s important to note, too, that housing market data usually carries a bit of a lag, so the full implications of April’s mortgage rate roller coaster might not be tangible for a few months. Caleb Smith, for example, said the past two or so weeks have felt different, a shift that wouldn’t yet be reflected in data.

“The market has been extremely competitive from a buyer side, and it’s only started to loosen up a little bit in the past two to three weeks,” he said.

It's more than just financial uncertainty. Buyers and sellers in the DMV are contending with disruptions to the federal workforce, causing some slowdown in the market, according to agents.

Caleb Smith, for one, said he's had several clients “that went from definitely buying in the spring to feeling overwhelmed with the instability” of their jobs.

“There’s a lack of confidence,” he said. “When it comes to instability with the jobs, it’s hard to move past that.”

Touchette shared similar anecdotes: First-time buyers who instead opted to sign another year of their lease and a couple who wanted a new home for their baby on the way who aren’t sure whether they should buy because their jobs aren’t secure.

“Each of us has probably had anywhere from two to six folks either on the buy or the sell side affected,” Touchette said of her seven-agent team. “It’s like, if I’m going to lose my job, maybe we stay put and figure it out. Or do we rent another place?”

Brian Smith, a real estate agent with Compass, said the imbalance between buyers and sellers in the market during the spring is "highly unusual." He said it's usually the most competitive time of the year, but so far, that competition has been muted.

That said, some buyers, even those facing job insecurity, who delayed their home purchase earlier this year, have already started "coming back around," according to Brian Smith.

"Life goes on," he said in an interview.

Despite the upheaval of the past 100 days, one part of the DMV housing market is still moving at full steam ahead: luxury.

"I have buyers in the $4 million to $7 million range who are not impacted or associated with the administration at all," Brian Smith said.

Many of those buyers, he said, are planning to buy their properties in cash, so they aren't as constrained by factors like mortgage rates.

"For them, it's business as usual," he said.

That's a continuation of a trend that started after the election. As of Tuesday, there were 300-plus properties priced at $3 million or more publicly for sale, pending or under contract in the DMV region since Jan. 1, according to Homes.com. That data doesn't include high-end properties listed privately, a preferred method for buying and selling among high-net-worth individuals.

Brian Smith said he expects that trend to continue, but it may slow this summer as many high-net-worth buyers leave the city for the season. Even so, he noted that at least two of his buyers would likely come back if a property of interest came up, or they could even opt to buy sight unseen if the right deal came along.

"They're not just going to walk away," he said.

All told, even as the luxury market continues to flex its resiliency, real estate agents foresee uncertainty persisting in the DMV housing market.

“We feel the weight of the administration’s decisions more than the rest of the country,” Touchette said. “Everybody is very anxious.”