A viral social media post that appears to show hundreds of homes hitting the market in the D.C. area after federal worker layoffs is bogus, real estate experts confirmed to News4.
The post shows dozens of new houses on the market in the areas of Arlington County and Falls Church, Virginia. It suggests that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's slashing of the federal workforce is leading to a mass real estate sell-off and exodus from Northern Virginia.
Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said the viral photo is fake.
"Right now, we are not seeing any major increase in inventory or any plunging in home prices," Yun told News4.
Ashleigh Wehmeyer, a real estate agent with Compass Realty, said the viral post is bogus and real estate professionals are scrambling to set the story straight.
"Some realtors have been posting because they've been getting calls from clients saying 'What's going on? Is this true? Should I put my house on the market right now?'" she said.
Housing inventory data for the first two weeks of February show minimal changes in most Northern Virginia cities and counties when compared with the same time period last year.
The largest increase in new home listings was in Loudoun County, which saw 24% more compared to that two-week period in 2024.
"In Loudoun you are seeing that, but you have the new builds, the new construction, but you also have people who have been ordered to return to work and so they're looking at maybe we should come back in and be closer now," she said.
Yun said the Beltway bubble hasn't popped and likely won't any time soon because direct federal government employees make up just 9% of the region's workforce.
"Ninety percent work in the private sector, many are government contract related, but nonetheless, given the highly educated workforce in the D.C. region, many companies want to tap the workforce," he said.
Bottom line: Experts say homeowners shouldn't panic sell.
On Thursday, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority is hosting a free webinar for people impacted by the federal cuts.
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