Northwest DC · Washington, DC
Chevy Chase
Row houses off Connecticut Avenue, between Rock Creek Park and the Maryland line.
Quick Answer
Chevy Chase runs from Rock Creek Park west to Reno Road, and north up Connecticut Avenue to the Maryland line at Chevy Chase Circle. Detached houses fill most of it. DC records about 410 row houses, and the largest groups sit on Nebraska Avenue, Jenifer Street, Jocelyn Street and 41st Street.
Row House Market
Fee simple & rowhouse condo · Closed sales, last 12 months
Median Sale Price
$1.3M
▲ +6.3% YoY
Median Days on Market
12 days
▲ +7d YoY
List-to-Sale Ratio
97.4%
Slight Discount
Median $/sqft
$596
Row Houses in Chevy Chase
424
5 recorded as two units
3 currently for sale
How We Calculate $/sqft
$/sqft is calculated on above-grade finished square footage, the standard used by DC appraisers, MLS systems, and most market participants. Properties with finished below-grade space (English basements, rental units) carry that square footage as additive value, but appraisers typically apply a discount of 50 to 75 cents on the dollar relative to above-grade space. Blending the two into a single $/sqft figure would make a home with a finished basement look cheaper than it is and obscure the real comparison. When a property has significant finished below-grade square footage, both metrics are presented in context so you understand the full picture before the appraiser does.
Row homes only (fee simple & rowhouse condo) · Source: BrightMLS via Compass · 16 closed sales · 12-month rolling period · Median figures · Updated periodically
Brian's Take
"Chevy Chase is a neighborhood of detached houses with about 410 row houses set into it. They are not small: about one in four has more than 3,000 square feet. They are not frequent either. I price them against each other first, and against the same kind of house in Friendship Heights when the sales run thin. I do not price them against the detached house down the street. A row house is compared with row houses."
Brian R. Hill · Let's talk about Chevy Chase →
The Neighborhood
Chevy Chase, Washington DC: What You Are Buying Into
Chevy Chase Circle sits on the DC-Maryland line at the top of Connecticut Avenue, with the Newlands Memorial Fountain at its center. The neighborhood runs south and east from there: Western Avenue on the north, Rock Creek Park on the east, Reno Road and Friendship Heights on the west. The southern edge, where it meets Forest Hills, has no agreed line. Detached houses fill most of the blocks. The row houses sit in groups on the side streets near Connecticut Avenue, Nebraska Avenue and Military Road. About seven in ten went up between 1901 and 1939.
Connecticut Avenue is the commercial spine, with shops, apartments, the Avalon Theatre and the Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library. Broad Branch Market sits inland on Broad Branch Road. No Metro station sits inside the neighborhood. Friendship Heights, Tenleytown-AU and Van Ness-UDC, all on the Red Line, are at its edges. School assignment in DC is by address; DCPS's school finder lists the assigned schools. Rock Creek Park forms the eastern edge, and Lafayette-Pointer Park and Livingston Park sit inside it.
Before You Offer
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Detached houses fill most of Chevy Chase. The row houses are a small share of the stock, and few come up in any year. About one in four has more than 3,000 square feet.
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Shops sit along Connecticut Avenue, with the largest group around the Avalon Theatre and the library. Most of the neighborhood is residential only. No Metro station sits inside it: Friendship Heights, Tenleytown-AU and Van Ness-UDC are on the edges.
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Row houses that sell here go under contract fast: the median is 12 days on market. With so few sales, one listing moves that figure. Have your financing ready before the right house lists.
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Nearly every row house here has a basement, and about four in five have finished it. Ask for the basement's water history in writing before you offer.
Market Position
What Drives Chevy Chase Prices
Chevy Chase is mostly a detached-house market. Row houses are a small share of its sales, so a row house is priced against few close comps.
The row houses are large for DC. The typical one has about 2,500 square feet in total, and about one in four has more than 3,000. Compare one on price per square foot with the same kind of house, never with a detached house on the next street.
Twelve row houses sold in the last two years, and one in four of those carried an association fee. The $1.3M median rests on few sales. Read it as a range, not a price.
Streets + Pockets
Best Streets and Blocks in Chevy Chase
Not all blocks price the same. Street by street, what sets each one apart.
Connecticut Avenue NW
The commercial spine, with shops, apartments, the Avalon Theatre and the library. Buses run its length. DC records about 23 row houses on it, in the 5100 to 5300 blocks.
Jenifer Street NW
One of the largest row house groups in the record: about 48 houses in the 3600 and 3700 blocks.
41st Street NW
About 29 row houses in the 5200 to 5400 blocks, on the western side toward Friendship Heights. Listings sometimes give them that name; the record places them in Chevy Chase.
McKinley Street NW
An east-west street through the middle of the neighborhood. DC records about 22 row houses on it, in the 3900 block.
Nebraska Avenue NW
The largest row house group in the record: about 86 houses in the 4800 to 5200 blocks. It is one of the main roads in and out of the neighborhood, so expect through traffic.
Row Houses
Chevy Chase Row Houses: How Many There Are, and How Many Are for Sale
How to read a DC row house →Total Row Houses
424
in Chevy Chase, 5 of them recorded as two units
Currently for Sale
3
active listings
Housing stock: DC public property records, two-unit conversions included · Active listings: BrightMLS via Compass
The Houses
Know what a Chevy Chase row house is worth on twelve sales
A Chevy Chase row house is not a small house. About one in four has more than 3,000 square feet.
DC lists about 410 row houses in Chevy Chase. All but five are single-family houses, and the figures here are for them. About seven in ten went up between 1901 and 1939, and about one in ten in the 1970s. The typical house has about 2,500 square feet in total on a lot of about 3,200. Nearly all have a basement, and about four in five have finished it. About one in nine rises three stories.
The last two years brought 12 sales, and one in four carried a homeowners association fee. A 1920s brick house and a 1970s townhouse with a monthly fee both count toward the $1.3M median. One sale moves it.
Here is what I do with that. I split the sales by era and by fee before I compare anything. When two years run thin, I reach back further, and I widen to the same kind of house in Friendship Heights, naming where each comp came from. For a house with a fee, I ask the seller for the association's budget and reserves in writing.
Few sales call for closer comps, not looser ones.
Housing stock: DC public property records and BrightMLS closed sales, fee simple row houses
From the Record
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Francis G. Newlands, then a Representative from Nevada, and his partners founded the Chevy Chase Land Company in 1890. They bought farmland on both sides of the District line to build a streetcar suburb.
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The DC side was built up from the early 1900s, after the Chevy Chase streetcar line linked it to downtown.
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The Avalon Theatre on Connecticut Avenue opened in 1923 as a silent film house. It closed for renovation in 2003 and reopened as a nonprofit theater.
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Until 2002 the whole neighborhood sat in Ward 3. That year the blocks east of Broad Branch Road moved to Ward 4.
Frequently Asked
Chevy Chase Real Estate: Your Questions, Answered First
How big are Chevy Chase row houses?
Larger than in much of DC. The typical one has about 2,500 square feet in total, about 1,750 of it above ground, on a lot of about 3,200 square feet. Nearly all have a basement, and about four in five have finished it.
How fast do homes really sell in Chevy Chase?
The median is 12 days on market, and it rests on few sales, so one listing can move it. A row house priced in line with its comps can go under contract in its first week. Have your financing approved before you tour.
What is the row house market like in Chevy Chase?
Small and slow to turn over. DC records about 410 row houses here, and few come up in any year. One in four sales in the last two years carried an association fee, so check for one before you compare.
Free · One Page
Own a row home in Chevy Chase? See what your block is actually selling for.
The Block Report: every closed sale on your block in the last 24 months, set against the Chevy Chase numbers on this page. Built from 25 years of DC MLS data. Free with your address and email.
Also Consider
Neighborhoods Near Chevy Chase, DC
Friendship Heights
To the west, past Reno Road, around Wisconsin Avenue and its Red Line station. The median there is $1.2M.
Median Price
$1.2M
Median DOM
7 days
Forest Hills
To the south, along Connecticut Avenue toward Van Ness-UDC. The two have no agreed boundary. The median there is $1.2M.
Median Price
$1.2M
Median DOM
6 days
Next Step
Before you decide on Chevy Chase, one conversation.
The median and the days on market are the start. The specific blocks, the condition range, and what the numbers leave out are the conversation. 20 minutes. No commitment.