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

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Prices for new and convertedr condos fell the most insuburban Maryland, down 7.6 The drops in Northern Virginia and D.C. were at 2.9 and 2.6 percent. an Alexandria research firm, said two factors contributed to the increasexdsales volume: historically low interest rated and the busy homebuying A total of 618 unitsx went under contract during the quarter. For the first half of the 928 units wentunder contract, with Arlington County and Alexandria leading the area with 242 units There are 8,480 units in projects now being marketed for and the number of cancelled units, 694, in the quartet was the lowest sinced early 2006.
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundatio changed its Art Place at Fort Totten from condos to apartmente and will go before the planning board July 2 to seek approvak for 529 apartments as part of the firsft ofthree phases. decided to reworok its 80 units at 1444Irvinb St. in Montgomery KB Home and Centex Homes cancellesdtheir Aventiene-Phase I, which woule have delivered 30 residential units. Delta CEO Greg Leisch said the dwindling pipeline — now at its lowest in five yearsz — will likely result in a shortage by 2010, causinhg effective prices to rise. Pricexs tend to rise when there inventory-to-sales ratio is at threde yearsor less. It is currently at 1.
7 year in Arlington and Alexandriaand 2.8 years in D.C. For the it is 5.1 years. Because the numberr of projects set to deliver inside the Beltway will drop tonear zero, Leiscg said prices will rise sharplgy between 2010 and 2011. This is good news for projectsz likethe Lionsgate, which is amonhg the last high-end condominium projects to delive in Bethesda. “There are really very few upscale condo projects and clearly none are going to start anytime soon,” said Marc president of Duball LLC, which developef Lionsgate.
“So when you look at ours with 30 unites leftto sell, that’s only about a nine- to 18-month supply at Then there is Park Potomavc with 40 left and the Adaggio with 30 That is only 100 units in Montgomeru County. Upscale buyers are going to be hard pressedx tofind high-end units in the he said. Leisch predicta that apartment projects plannes as condominiums and converted to rental such asWilliam C. Smith Cos.’ 82-unit Park Vista in Southeas D.C., may convert back to condominium projectw to meet the coming shortage before new projectesare planned. “There is no lender who will loan on a new condoi projectright now,” he said.
“We’ve got about 10,00 0 units that were converted to apartmenta when the market soured and they will be the ones to converg back to meet the first wave of demand around instead of havingnew construction.” Leisch cited Northwest D.C. and Tysons Cornefr as areas that will host the firsyt wave of newconstruction — expected in 2012 to 2015 when lenders regain confidence in the Leisch also noted a changs in buyer behavior compared to the “Three years ago, at the height of the people signed up to buy in advance and were willing to walk away from theitr deposit when it came time to But in three yearz people get new jobs, move away, get get divorced and go through major lifestyl changes.
Now, people are buying with settlements in 90 days and in that they are seeing the actual unitand it’s a seriou decision.” The result? The contract cancellation rate has droppe to 15 to 20 down from 65 percent last year.