ShareWRC-TV (NBC 4; Washington, D.C.)
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.
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.