First, learn more about this fantastic home (my dad's house), via a 3D Walk Through and more by visiting 3120PrestonLakeBoulevard.com.

Now, back to our local real estate market -- I just published my most recent monthly market report, and as usual, you can read on for an overview, download the full report as a PDF, read the entire report with commentary online, or tune in to my monthly video overview of our local housing market...

Now, let's take a look at some the trends we're currently seeing in our local housing market...

As shown above, it has been an exciting month -- and year -- in our real estate market...

OK -- this one is a random snippet.  Above you will find a STARTLING statistic about the housing market in the City of Harrisonburg -- not including Rockingham County.  When we look at all homes that sold in the past 12 months, in the City, half of them were under contract within 14 days of being listed for sale!  Wow!

Back to the big picture -- June 2018 home sales (all 174 of them) was the third highest month of home sales we have ever seen in our local market -- topped only by two summer months back in 2005 and 2006.  I thought we'd see home sales drop off in July, as a result, but we had the best month of July sales in recent years -- with 127 home sales!  Next month I'm not expecting we'll pop back up to August 2016 levels -- we're more likely to be in the 120 - 130 range for sales in August.

August, oh August, that magical month.  Last year at this time (end of July) we had seem more home sales (in 2017) than during that same timeframe the prior year (2016).  And then, August.  After August passed, 2017 never caught back up -- and ended up being a slower year than 2016 when all sales were accounted for.  So -- what will happen this August?  Will we keep on pace with 2017?  Or even with 2016?  Will we fall behind again?  Stay tuned.

When I see the YTD market-wide median increasing by 10%, I get a bit worried -- wondering if these are sustainable increases.  Then, however, when I look at single family home sales alone, I am (at least a bit) reassured.  You'll note that thus far the median sales price has increased only 4.2% between 2017 and 2018.  This is much more in line with (or close to) long-term historical averages, and makes me think that the strong seller's market might not be leading to unsustainable price increases. 

Why, might you ask, is the single family detached market a better indicator of changes in market value?  Mainly because it is not as easily affected by the number of investors engaging in our market.  When the market gets hot we often see lots of investors buying properties -- often townhouses or other attached dwellings -- which can affect price trends.  Most single family home purchases are made by folks who actually intend to live in the properties.

Which would you rather do, buy or sell in the current market?  The answer should be "sell" -- given the strong seller's market we're currently experiencing.  A few things to note above -- first, there are still plenty more buyers in the market than there are sellers.  Second, the number of sellers in the market continues to decline (and decline, and decline).  Third, after a brief slow down in buyer activity, the pace seems to be increasing again.

What comes next for our local market?  Looking at contract activity (above) we can see the pop in May 2018 that lead to a wild month of June sales.  Looking, then, at July -- we actually see a sizable increase from last July -- so maybe we'll have a stronger than expected month of sales in August after all!?

If you're buying soon, you might have already passed the time in our local market cycle when you would have the most options from which to choose.  That's not to say that plenty of new listings won't be coming on the market in the next 30 / 60 / 90 days -- they will -- but inventory levels have likely peaked and will start to decline as we (eventually) head into Fall and Winter.

Lastly, how about those interest rates?  We were actually close to 4.5% about 20 months ago -- but then dropped below 4% again.  Now, over the past year, we have seen steady increases to where we are currently hovering around 4.5%.  I have not seen this playing a major role in whether buyers are willing and able to buy -- but I do wonder if buyer activity (or interest or capability) would start to be affected if the interest rates rose to 5% or 5.5%.