So Hows the Real Estate Market?

This is a question I get asked all the time, so here is a quick update about what is going on in Northern Virginia.  This information comes from an article in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of RE+VIEW, the magazine of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. The full article is available here.

The red arrows indicate that things have changed from last year.  In each case this year's metrics are not as good as last year.  I have seen this in the market as homes are staying on the market longer and pricing is softer than it was.  It is taking some more aggressive marketing and price adjustments to get homes sold.

In Fairfax Station subdivision, there was only one home on the market which has since sold after a rather significant price adjustment.  Currently there are no homes on the market in our subdivision.

Overall, the market is shifting from single family detached homes to more condo and townhouse sales.  This reflects more first time buyers and fewer move up buyers that typically purchase detached homes.  This has the effect of reducing the average sale prices for the area as a whole.  In 2014 only 5000 jobs were added May to May. By comparison, the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 job growth for that time period was around 40,000.  Projections of job growth for the next 4 years are approximately 40,000-50,000 per year.  Since housing is a function of job growth, the outlook remains positive. Despite the dip from last year, the overall market is still much stronger than it was three or four years ago.