Technically, we saw a slight decline (106 to 105) in home sales when comparing May 2015 to May 2014 -- but I'll live with that given the overall positive trends outlined above.
How do we know that home values are increasing in our local real estate market? When we see sustained upward movement in long-term trends -- and it seems safe to say that we're seeing that now. After over three years of a sub-$180K median price (when looking at a rolling 12 month period) we saw that ceiling shattered in April 2015 after over six months of steady increases -- and now, this 12-month rolling median sales price has jumped up to $185K! Stay tuned, folks, but it looks like we may be starting to see some increases in sales prices, and thus home values.
Now, to provide a balanced look at things, I should point out that despite my exuberance about the above-referenced market trends, the pace of buyer activity (as measured by properties going under contract) was a bit disappointing in May 2015 as compared to May 2014. It was certainly a solid month of contracts being signed (114) but a far cry from the 135 we saw last May. It will be interesting to see what happens in June 2015 as last June there were a whopping 145 contracts signed!
As one last indicator of where we are these days -- it is worth noting that inventory levels have remained relatively stable over the past year. There were 679 homes on the market a year ago -- there are 659 on the market today. In theory, we'll see a slight increase in inventory over the next few months as we continued into and through the Summer market.
OK, that's it for now. I'll hit some high points here on HarrisonburgHousingToday.com in coming days. In the meantime, you can read the full June 2015 Harrisonburg Housing Market Report online or by downloading the PDF.
And as is always my encouragement -- if you will be buying or selling a home in the near future, become a student of the housing market! Learn what has been happening recently, what is happening now, and what is likely to happen next. Being informed will allow you to make better real estate decisions.
If you are ready to buy or sell a property in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County, contact me at 540-578-0102 or scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com to get the process started.