Spring brings tourists to Washington to see the cherry blossoms, but this year it also is bringing a sense of hope to developers and brokers that the housing correction of 2006 is a thing of the past. After a record-setting pace of new condo contract sales in 2005—about 13,700 units sold—sales activity slowed in 2006, especially in the second half of the year. As a result, only 6,600 new units sold in the Washington metro area, which includes the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland. Contract cancellations played a large role in the sales drop-off, as previously sold-out buildings started to deliver and several buyers got skittish near settlement.