How should readers interpret Washington, DC's price and activity figures?
GCAAR reported 438 closed sales, down 19.5% year over year, while the median sold price increased 1.7% to $681,500. New listings fell 15.9% and new pendings fell 14.6% from August 2025. Those movements can coexist because price medians reflect the mix of properties that closed, not a constant basket of homes.
Longer exposure and a wider original-list gap
Average days on market reached 51, compared with 44 a year earlier and a five-year August average of 40. The average sold-to-original-list ratio was 95.7%. These figures support disciplined launch pricing and a review of price-change history, but they do not define the terms for one house, condo, or co-op.
YTD boundary
Through August, closed sales were down 3.5% and the median sold price was up 0.4%. The single August decline in closings was materially larger than the YTD change, which is why monthly and cumulative evidence should be reported together.