Photo by jennyboh

Back in 2008 the City Paper’s Dave McKenna called it “Notyetworth,” but just over four years later the Northwest neighborhood of Petworth is considered one of the hottest places to buy in D.C.

Yesterday real estate company Redfin listed its hottest neighborhoods in metropolitan areas across the country, and locally it included Fairfax’s Pimmit Hills, D.C.’s Petworth and Rockville’s Fallsmead as the places in the coming year. “The hottest neighborhoods are all seeing shrinking selection, increasing sales, and increasing prices—often at rates far above the metro areas that contain them,” it explained.

Pimmit Hills, located just north of West Falls Church and south of Tysons, led all local comers. From December 2011 to December 2012, there were 53 percent fewer available houses for sale and median sales prices increased by 11.4 percent.

“Pimmit Hills is right between the commercial haven and employment hub of Tyson’s Corner and Charming main street-esque Falls Church City. With an abundance of flat large lots, enhancement of the Tyson’s Corner area and additional transportation options Pimmit Hills looks to be a popular place for years to come,” said Redfin agent Rob Wittman.

As for Petworth, sales picked up last year, with 33 percent fewer homes on the market and a region-leading median sales price increase of 26 percent. “Petworth has easy access to exciting new corridors of restaurants and night life. In most places you are just a short walk to new restaurants by some of DC’s up-and-coming chefs and owners. New buildings, grocery stores, and renovations are being completed every day giving the neighborhood a rejuvenated and exciting feel,” opined Redfin agent Michael Alderfer.

On Fallsmead, Redfin touts it as being a neighborhood of mid-sized homes in a good school district, and homes that are listed are often sold quickly.

Comparatively speaking, though, the Washington Metro area’s hot neighborhoods didn’t even rank in the top 10 nationwide. Los Angeles’ Highland Park topped that list, along with three other neighborhoods in the city. San Diego’s Mira Mesa came in second, while the Bay Area had three contenders and Chicago and Seattle offered up one a piece.