Planned renovations to Washington, DC’s libraries have been getting attention on both local and national blogs of late:

DC Metrocentric: Georgetown Library Renovations

Dwell Blog: Adjaye Tapped for Two DC Branch Libraries

A redesigned Georgetown Public Library (which was damaged by a three-alarm fire in April 2007), Washington Highlands branch in in Southwest, and Francis A. Gregory library in Southeast should be good for property values in all three neighborhoods (more so with the last two).

But, as the post on Dwell and comments on DC Metrocentric point out, planned improvements are not the same as actual improvements.

September 27’s Washington Post’s “Where We Live” section provided some real estate trends for condos.  The data compared the first three months of 2007 to the first three months of 2008.

As one would expect, metro-wide sales were down from 4,556 condos to 2,864 condos during the January to March period. Pricing held up well, however, with the median purchase price of $277,222 in 2007 compared to $274,175 in 2008, or a 1 percent decline in value.

But the District itself saw a much brighter picture.  Sales increased from 208 to 312 when comparing the two periods, and pricing went from $330,000 in 2007 to $379,500 in 2008 – a 15 percent increase!

Now, keep in mind that this is only a small snippet of the market, and one cannot draw meaningful conclusions from the data.  That being said, it is just another data point that supports the notion that living in the District has its advantages!

A local news broadcast in Washington, DC, recently included a segment about real estate investors finding great deals in the market.

And apparently local investors are not alone: according to Hitwise Intelligence, the frequency of Internet searches with the term “houses for sale” just hit a two-year high.

(Via Inman)

In March 2006 the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Tradition Financial Services, along with some other partners, launched the S&P CME Housing Futures and Options.

Much as futures and options allow investors to hedge their existing positions or speculate in investments like stocks, bonds, and commodities, S&P CME Housing Futures and Options enables people to manage the exposure of their real estate holdings (or speculate on the market). These futures and options also people to see what investors think the real estate market is going to do.

Per CNN, “these derivatives will enable investors to take a position on the direction of home prices either for the nation as a whole or for 10 major cities to start.” Washington, DC, is one of those markets.

Here are some useful sites if you’re interested in more information:

• Chicago Mercantile Exchange: Washington DC Contract Listings
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange: Washington DC Delayed Futures and Options Quote
• Matrix’s interpretation of the housing index