Glut. That's a funny word.

Article on washingtonpost.com today about the near-exponential growth in condo construction/conversion in the DC metro area which has resulted in a "glut of condos." The article references two studies, both of which "found that condo activity was red-hot here but now is cooling." Wow, so somebody actually paid these guys to figure that out?

While the conclusion is obvious to anyone with an eye on For Sale signs, the actual numbers are interesting, even to the well informed. From the article:

Arlington and Fairfax have 14,156 units under construction and almost 28,000 planned or proposed, Wenhold said. "But in the same area, last year we only sold 4,001 condos." In 14 counties in Maryland, including those around the District and Baltimore, Wenhold said, 3,901 condo units are under construction.

Neither of the articles, however, indicated that result will be a housing market crash and that we should all run for our lives. In fact, one of the studies called for a softer landing in DC than in many other areas such as Las Vegas and Miami, owing in part to continued job growth. That's a lot of jobs.