For the first time in more than a decade, the pendulum is now swinging in favor of those looking for a home in the nation’s capital.

“Washington, D.C. is a buyer’s market,” Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said. “There are 22% more homes for sale than there are buyers interested in buying those homes.”

If this sounds like a major change, she pointed out D.C. is entering a new era.

“It’s the first buyer’s market since the Great Recession, since 2013-ish,” she said.

“We really don’t have any recent examples of it being a buyer’s market. We’ve just been in seller’s territory ever since the economy recovered, and then it was an extreme seller’s market during the pandemic. And what we’re experiencing now is pretty new.”

She said this is the most negotiating power buyers have had since the Great Recession. So how should buyers take advantage of this change in the D.C. market?

“The first thing to do is to understand your budget,” she said. “You can talk to a lender, figure out how much you can get approved for, but also look at your own personal budget and figure out how much you feel comfortable spending.”

Fairweather said to keep that budget in mind when shopping for homes.

“Then look at the homes that are available for sale, or homes that have sold recently, and how much they’ve sold for,” she said. “And see if your budget gets you what you want in the housing market.”

“If you clear those hurdles where there are homes available that fit your budget,” she continued, “then from that point on, it should be pretty smooth sailing.”