October Home Sales: N.Va

MRIS just released its October existing home sales report for the region. Despite of financial crisis (and tight credit market), the total number of homes sold for No. Va. was higher than last year because sales prices continued on its declining trend.

The average sales price down 17.92% to $427,502 from $520,829 a year ago. Median price also declined 17.47% from $435,000 in '07 to $359,000 this year. While sales price continued treading down, at the same time the total number of units sold picked up 29.74% from a year ago to 1,457 units.

Regardless of the type of property (condo, single home or townhouse), prices have come down by a lot since last year. For example, in the 3BR single home market within the same period (07-08), prices came down from $516,847 to $427,703 or it's off by 17.25%. The same thing is true with 3BR townhouse market. The price swings from $451,692 to $326,114 or off by 27.8%. Furthermore, condo price have bec0me more affordable with its average sales price plunged 16.07% from $345,397 to $289,885.

Apparently, buyers took note of the low price environment and decided that this is 'the right time to buy.'  So, these buyers snap properties left and right. And no wonder multiple contracts are back..

Area Comps

	Alexandria	Arlington	Fairfax
sales price	$444,450	$541,339	$408,464
median price	$400,000	$471,000	$344,500
units sold	141	156	1,132
single home	29	58	524
townhouse	51	19	422
condo	61	79	186
active listings	761	989	6835

Using the median price it shows which area still affordable in the pricey DC region. In this case, among the three areas in Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax), Fairfax County is the most affordable place - in general.

Because this is such an interesting time, let's see how market performed in a 3-mo. rolling trends.

2008	Aug	Sept	Oct
sales price	$473,187	$407,748	$427,502
median price	$389,000	$348,250	$359,000
units sold	1,812	1,650	1,457
# units SFH	795	674	625
# units TH	580	554	497
# units condo	437	422	335
# pending sales (contracts)	1887	1777	1604
active listings	9190	9112	8806

When you look at August numbers, it's interesting to note that typically the month of August - is the slowest month for real estate sales! - but, that's not the case for this year. In August, No. Va had the most sales on a 3-mo rolling trends. After that, sales sorta going down hill.

Condo sales took the biggest hit - with sales off 20.6% from September to October. Sign of condo glut? Or, buyers looking for other-than-condo bargains coming from the foreclosure land with prices better than condos..

On a positive note, there were fewer listings on the market for October. Could it be that many of the wannabe sellers decided to put off their moves till sometime later? Who knows..

data: MRIS

Comments

[Veronica Seva]

That is really interesting about August!