November 2, 2026. By Robert Schlee.
DC luxury market note, November 2026: sellers hold the top, tenants hold the timing
Where Washington, DC's luxury market stands going into winter 2026: scarce inventory above $3M, a softer condo demand index, and why a flat sales forecast pushes officials and executives toward furnished leases.
Two things are true at once in Washington this fall. Above $3 million the city is closing more homes than owners are listing, and below that line the broader market is sluggish enough that Bright MLS forecast the DMV as the only Mid-Atlantic region where 2026 prices would fall.
The luxury threshold for the DC region, the price that marks the top five percent of sales, reached $1.9 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 5.6 percent in a year. In July, the $5 million and up segment closed seven sales against two new listings citywide, and Georgetown's $1 million to $3 million homes went pending in an average of 24 days. The two DC ZIP codes with the most luxury sales in the quarter were 20016 and 20007, the Georgetown and West End side of the city.
The condo index tells the other half of the story. Bright MLS's demand index for DC condos above $600,000 registered 96 in August, down from 112 the month before and 117 a year earlier. Buyers at that price point are waiting.
For anyone arriving on a posting or a contract, that combination argues for leasing. A flat forecast removes the appreciation argument for buying on a two- or three-year horizon, and furnished residences with a defined exit are the cleanest way to hold the option. In the current portfolio, furnished two-bedrooms at The Amaris run $14,000 to $15,000 per month; unfurnished residences at The Amaris and VIO start at $4,000 to $5,500 per month, and the canopy-level homes at the Ritz-Carlton Residences lease at $7,500 and $12,000 per month.
For owners the lesson is the same one behind the lease record: price the residence, not the index, and place it with the tenant who needs exactly that home on exactly that date. The residences in the portfolio lease again each year because the tenant for next year is usually already on the list.