arlington county

January 2021 Market Update

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Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2021!  I predict this will be yet another exciting year with lots of new challenges, adversity, change, and so much more. The good thing to note is out of these situations come positive outcomes for many if you keep the right mental attitude, stay adaptable, and take care of yourself and those around you. We do not know what lies ahead but keeping strong is as vital as ever.

I have been asked, “what is going to happen with real estate in 2021”?  It depends on whether you are a buyer, seller, renter, landlord, or investor. Inventory levels in Northern Virginia continue to decline. We ended the year with only 1,737 houses for sale in Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, and Fauquier Counties and all the cities located within this area. As you can imagine, this number is extremely low, historically speaking. This makes purchasing a home extraordinarily difficult for buyers. I am currently working with a buyer where we have bid $30,000 over list, $40,000 over list, and $50,000 over list and on three separate houses, and we have lost out on each of them. They are in the $400,000 – $500,000 price point. The listing agents said they were overwhelmed with offers and calls – one had 17 offers in hand in less than 24 hours. So, you can see the buying environment is uber-competitive. On the flip side, this makes it a great time to sell a home if you are looking to move. Depending on the price point, location and condition, sellers can expect multiple showings as well as multiple contracts with purchasers paying more than the sales price and waiving many, if not all, the contingencies associated with a sale. Renting houses is also a challenge as there is a .4-month supply of homes available, and of those, 40% are single-family or townhouses. Again, this makes being a landlord easier to get results as there is a brisk rental market in Northern Virginia. Most investors like houses that cash flow, and with prices being bid up, many investors are choosing to wait on the sidelines to see if more inventory comes on the market prior to getting into bidding wars. Time will tell if we get more inventory or not, but I believe we will experience low inventory throughout 2021. Call me to discuss your situation in more detail so we can help you make the right decisions.

So, the market that is struggling the most right now in our area is condos. In Arlington County, 84% of the resale inventory is condominiums. The average days on the market for a condo in Arlington is 76 days and the average overall days on the market for all properties in NOVA is 16. Quite a difference, right? The rental market is remarkably similar in all of NOVA – condos are on the market for 126 days, and single-family and townhouses are on the market for 42 days. Be careful when considering an investment in condos right now.

As always, I am happy to speak with you about your situation as each one is different.  Happy New Year, and as always, be safe, make wise decisions when you go in public, so you

September Market Update

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My whole career I have been asked, “So, how’s the market?” Well, this year and more specifically, in the last few months, I have been asked this even more. It is a loaded question because it depends on whether you are a buyer, a seller, or if you are looking to rent and most importantly where you are looking to do any of these types of transactions.  After we clarify what they want to know, I find it is a lot of curiosity because people love to talk about real estate. It also is of interest to them because in our discussions I hear things like, “I don’t see any for sale signs in my neighborhood”, “when houses go up for sale in my area, they sell right away”, “my friend is looking for a house and they are losing out on multiple contracts” and many other similar comments so there is a genuine interest in “How’s the market”.

Overall, in Northern Virginia, the inventory on active resale homes is down over 31% from last year and units sold are virtually the same which means it is extremely competitive to be a buyer and if you price your house correctly, you can be a very happy seller. As always it is a hyper-local market so let’s take a deeper dive into the counties.

  • Arlington County – the Amazon Effect is keeping inventory low, median days on the market extremely low but interestingly enough, prices are not as high as you would think considering the supply and demand in that area. Closed sales are down as inventory is down and prices are up just 4%. Houses sell quickly – median days on market are just 9!
Statistic Jul YoY MoM
Total Sold Dollar Volume 182,179,254 down5.9% down7.5%
Closed Sales 266 down9.5% -0.4%
Median Sold Price $616,000 up1.3% +9%
Average Sold Price $684,884 up4% -7.2%
Median Days on Market 9 days down75.7% 0%
Average Days on Market 30 days down40% -16.7%
  • Fairfax County – Prices are up Year over Year but down Month over Month which indicates sellers are starting off too high and then making adjustments to get them sold. Days on market for Median Days and average days indicate a strong market but remember, price is critical to getting houses sold today. Closed sales are up Year over Year but are down Month over Month.
Statistic Jul YoY MoM
Total Sold Dollar Volume 1,027,443,963 up7.9% down5.9%
Closed Sales 1,680 up6.5% -4.8%
Median Sold Price $539,900 up2.3% -4.4%
Average Sold Price $612,668 up1.5% -1.1%
Median Days on Market 17 days down56.4% +6.3%
Average Days on Market 33 days down31.3% +6.5%
  • Loudoun County – the market in Loudoun is slowing a little as they are experiencing what other regions are – Year over Year gains but Month over Month declines. Median Days on Market jumped MoM but prices are maintaining in the area.  There is lots of pent up demand in Loudoun – stay tuned on their progress.
Statistic Jul YoY MoM
Total Sold Dollar Volume 408,811,460 up8.4% down2.8%
Closed Sales 747 up1.8% -1.2%
Median Sold Price $512,250 up8.5% -0.5%
Average Sold Price $549,478 up6.9% -1.4%
Median Days on Market 23 days down39.5% +43.8%
Average Days on Market 38 days down34.5% +22.6%
  • Prince William County – consistent with the other counties showing price reductions but an overall strong market as sales are strong and Days on Market are low. Prince William offers the lowest prices so more value!
Statistic Jul YoY MoM
Total Sold Dollar Volume 318,271,988 up5.4% down1.5%
Closed Sales 778 down0.4% 0%
Median Sold Price $385,000 up6.9% -2.5%
Average Sold Price $409,616 up5.9% -1.8%
Median Days on Market 24 days down41.5% +14.3%
Average Days on Market 38 days down19.2% +5.6%

Remember, within the counties, there is also a deeper dive that needs to be taken into consideration in neighborhoods and price points. Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of what is happening in our real estate market in Northern Virginia.  If you have any questions or concerns or if you are looking to make a move, please feel free to call me.