New Condo Inventory in DC: Possible Shortage of Units Later This Year

Real estate sales and marketing firm McWilliams|Ballard reveals the diminishing supply of new condos in D.C. in its recently-released, 34-page report Year End 2009 Washington Metro Area Condominium Market Overview.

The report tallies the remaining number of condo units  available in each city and country. Here are the figures for the District:

Area(Available Units)
Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights (183)
Capitol Hill (84)
Dupont Circle/Kalorama (7)
East of the River (131)
Georgetown/West End (67)
Logan Circle/U Street/ LeDroit Park (136)
New York Avenue. Corridor/Northeast (67)
NoMa (25)
Penn Quarter/ Mt. Vernon Triangle (123)
Petworth/East of Rock Creek (31)
SE & SW Waterfront (494)
Upper Northwest (130)
TOTAL  of 1,368 units

This will be the first time for the DC condo inventory to plummet below 6,000 since 2003. The diminishing supply will likely result in a shortage of new units by late 2010. Given the current market conditions, rental projects may even deliver condo or convert already-delivered buildings to rental units.

According to the report, “developers who can deliver smaller, cost-effective, quality conversion product in Northwest DC submarkets in 2011 will have the opportunity to be highly successful.” This might even drive big projects that are still under construction and are yet to deliver until mid-2012 to actually deliver the condo units.

New big condo projects are yet to be delivered at least mid-2012, which opens the opportunity for small projects to fill in the demand. It even seems like another opportunity for individual condo owners to sell their units.