The condo market  in the Washington DC Metro area looks like it is having a natural slowdown. The scary part of the equation is the large quantity of new condos that will be coming into the market in the next 3 years. This one factor could suppress prices for the next few years.

That means that would-be condo buyers have many more choices than they had only months ago, according to local real estate agents. Melissa Chen, a real estate agent with District-based Evers & Co., said shoppers are touring as many as 40 units now before choosing, enjoying the luxury of time to consider their options. That’s a big change from when there were only a handful of properties available and buyers had to snap them up with little time for reflection, she said.

In 2005, 13,698 new condo units were sold in the area, up from 9,108 in 2004, according to the new report from Delta Associates, an Alexandria-based real estate information firm. Sales were particularly brisk in the fourth quarter of 2005, when 3,541 new condos were sold — a record, according to the report — up from 2,394 in the comparable quarter in 2004.

But far more units are being readied for the market, either in new projects or conversions from rental apartments. About 51,400 units were being planned or marketed for delivery within the next three years, Delta Associates found, up from 39,000 three months earlier. It appears some builders are proceeding with projects they have spent years developing, even as the supply of new units rises, in hopes their projects will be more successful than the competition.

Area Condo Sales Cooling After Record-Setting Year.

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