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OK -- now for your local real estate news! Happy May, everyone! I have published my monthly market report, which you can download as a PDF, or read online. For the abridged version of the most important things for you to know, read on....
First -- for those that would rather listen/watch than read -- tune in to my monthly video overview of our local housing market. There's a someone humorous technical blooper 90% of the way through. It does not affect the market data being conveyed, so I left it in there for your enjoyment. :)
OK -- now, back to a high level overview of where things are with the local real estate market....
OK -- several potential stories to unpack here....
- Home sales declined (slightly) in April to 98 home sales, as compared to 101 a year ago. This is not a huge deal, as our year-to-date sales figures still show that we're 2.49% ahead of where we were a year ago. But, still, a slightly slower month of sales in April. Perhaps dues to lower inventory levels? More on that later.
- Median prices are down about 5.24% thus far in 2017 -- but with only four months of data, that is likely related to what actually sold, as opposed to home values declining. The median sales price over the past year ($190K) is still 2.15% higher than it was ($186K) during the previous 12 months.
- Homes are selling fast (fast, fast, super fast) this year - with a median "days on market" of 54 days, as compared to 73 days during the same timeframe last year.
Now, let's take a closer look at how these sales are coming together, via contract activity....
As shown above -- April 2017 was another active month of buying activity -- following closely after March's 140 contracts with 137 in April. Again, though, this does not quite stack up against the 158 contracts signed last April. The next few months could be even stronger (see 2015) or even slower (see 2016) -- and some of that may relate to how many choices buyers have from an inventory perspective.
OK -- inventory, inventory, inventory -- let's get down to it....
As shown above, today's buyers have significantly fewer homes to choose from -- with a 29% decline in the number of homes for sale in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. That said, it gets even more striking in some price ranges....
- $200K - $300K = 24% decline in homes for sale
- Under $200K = 51% decline in homes for sale
That last one is shocking, and perhaps problematic -- our most active price range (average of 60 sales per month) has seen a significant drop in the number of home available to buyers. One year ago, these buyers could have selected from 256 homes -- today, only 125!
OK -- there is a pile of additional information bout our local housing market in my monthly market report. If you are interested in more, feel free to download the entire thing as a PDF, or read it online.
And, my reminders for buyers and sellers last month still apply....
SELLERS -- even though it is somewhat of a seller's market in many price ranges right now, you must still focus on price, condition and marketing.
For further reading on buying or selling in this area, check out....
