Crestwood, 16th Street Heights and Shepherd Park line up along 16th Street NW on the east side of Rock Creek Park, and buyers looking for a detached house in upper Northwest DC often weigh all three. They share a corridor. However, the numbers show three different markets. I pulled every detached sale inside each neighborhood’s boundary from Bright MLS for October 2025 through September 2026.
Detached home prices side by side: Crestwood, DC and its neighbors
| Crestwood | 16th Street Heights | Shepherd Park | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached sales | 24 | 19 | 20 |
| Median sale price | $1,620,000 | $1,050,500 | $1,185,000 |
| Middle half of sales | $1.16M to $1.91M | $813K to $1.54M | $985K to $1.24M |
| Median price per sq ft | $415 | $377 | $438 |
| Median finished sq ft | 3,346 | 2,916 | 2,691 |
| Median lot size | about 7,200 sq ft | about 4,400 sq ft | about 5,700 sq ft |
| Median year built | 1938 | 1920 | 1935 |
| Median days on market | 26.5 | 21 | 10.5 |
| Sale price vs. original list (median) | 95.8% | 97.5% | 100.0% |
| Sold at or above original list | 29% | 42% | 60% |
What stands out in the numbers
A few things stand out:
- Crestwood is the priciest, mostly because the houses are bigger. Its median house had 3,346 finished square feet on about 7,200 square feet of land, against 2,916 and 2,691 square feet in the other two. Per square foot, however, Crestwood ($415) actually sold below Shepherd Park ($438).
- Shepherd Park was the most competitive. In fact, 60% of detached sales closed at or above the original list price, and the median house sold in 10.5 days.
- Crestwood buyers had the most room to negotiate. Only 29% of sales closed at or above the original list price, and the median sale came in at 95.8% of it. In other words, at the top of the market, pricing matters more than speed.
- 16th Street Heights had the lowest price per square foot ($377) and the widest spread of outcomes: the median was 21 days on market, but 32% of detached sales took more than 60 days.
With about 20 detached sales a year in each neighborhood, one or two large sales can move a median. For that reason, the next section uses 24 months of data.
What $800K, $1.2M and $1.8M buy
Across the three neighborhoods, 138 detached houses sold from October 2024 through September 2026, at a combined median of $1,200,000. Here is what each price band looked like, with the sales counted by neighborhood:
| Sale price | Detached sales | Crestwood / 16th St Heights / Shepherd Park | Median finished sq ft | Typical layout (medians) | Median lot | Median year built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $800K | 13 | 1 / 8 / 4 | 2,341 | 4 bed, 2 bath | about 5,200 sq ft | 1922 |
| $800K–$1.2M | 51 | 10 / 20 / 21 | 2,565 | 4 bed, 3 bath | about 5,700 sq ft | 1928 |
| $1.2M–$1.8M | 56 | 20 / 18 / 18 | 3,207 | 5 bed, 4 bath | about 6,100 sq ft | 1933 |
| $1.8M and up | 18 | 15 / 2 / 1 | 4,492 | 5 bed, 5 bath | about 7,800 sq ft | 1935 |
- Under $800,000 is thin: 13 sales in two years, 8 of them in 16th Street Heights. Expect older houses, and also budget for updates.
- $800,000 to $1.2 million is the core of 16th Street Heights and Shepherd Park, with 20 and 21 sales. In comparison, Crestwood had 10.
- $1.2 million to $1.8 million buys about 3,207 square feet and a fifth bedroom at the median, and it’s where the largest share of Crestwood sales land (20 of 46).
- $1.8 million and up is almost entirely Crestwood: 15 of the 18 sales, with a median of 4,492 square feet.
