If you are trying to sell your home in Northern Virginia or planning to do so, it may seem like the perfect storm has formed to prevent you from doing so. Between the bailouts, the sour economic news, the media hype, and the foreclosures down the street pushing your price down, you may be wondering if your home will ever sell.
Then someone like me comes along and publishes a post entitled Sellers Don't Despair... June is Just 6 Months Away. Note to Buyers: Buy Now! That's like breaking open your Chinese fortune cookie in mid-winter only to read "For better luck, you will have to wait until the Summer!" Don't laugh, that actually happened to a friend of mine once. (The waitress was kind enough to bring us a handful of fortune cookies after we brought that sour fortune to her attention)
Well, I'm pleased to announce that there is a potential bright spot for sellers in Northern Virginia. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. In this case, that silver lining is the housing inventory numbers. Without exception, every single major Northern Virginia jurisdiction has less homes on the market today than one year ago today. So, while sales numbers are way down in most areas, and prices have dropped, the lower inventory numbers mean that you'll have a better chance of selling your Northern Virginia home because there are less homes competiting for the attention of buyers.
This chart compares housing inventory as of December 15, 2008 with the inventory that existed on December 15, 2007:
For example, if you were to put your home on the market today in Fairfax County, you'd have 5,215 homes vying for the attention of buyers and their agents. Compare that to 6,777 homes on the market this time last year.
Thinking about selling your Northern Virginia home or just want more information?
Contact Brian Block, REALTOR/Attorney, RE/MAX Allegiance: Licensed in Virginia & Washington D.C.
Cell: 703-626-0715. If you are interested in purchasing or selling a property in Northern Virginia including Arlington County, Alexandria City, Annandale, Burke, D.C., Fairfax County, Falls Church City, Lorton, McLean, Springfield, Washington D.C., contact Brian today.
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The lower inventory looks like good news, and we have that in Crofton, as well. But I suspect it's becuae so many sellers have taken their homes off the market to rent untl the market gets better, and others have just decided to wait until the market turns. In the ong run, I'm not sure this is good, but it sure is now.
Brian...Good news for you. I can't say our inventory is down...but the sales sure are! UGH!
Nice post, what did you use to do the graph? I need to learn that tip!
Brian, Great upbeat message and I love the graph. So much of what I read here is that if you are going to present statistics, charts, graphs, etc. you should keep it simple, and you have with yours. Thowm and Ray beat me to the question but would you mind sharing how you created it?
Hi Brian, that is great news for your area...by the way I must have eathen that fortune cookie....I am fat and lost my hair! Great information for buyers to act now or that dream property could be gone and the price may never be as good as it is today. Nice post Brian.
"Margaret Woda said...But I suspect it's becuae so many sellers have taken their homes off the market to rent untl the market gets better, and others have just decided to wait until the market turns."
Margaret - you might think thats the case. However, Ive been intensely scrutinizing inventory levels for a while now. As it turns out, not only are most jurisdictions in VA have less inventory than Dec 2007, they have less than Dec 2006 too. This trend has continued for a while. Peak inventory in most VA jurisdictions was 2006, and its been down ever since.
In every prior downturn, once inventory levels drop, they do not return. Thus, it could be people are waiting or renting, but thats been the case in prior downturns too. In any event the long term trends are clear, it is a near certainty the correction is "on".
Jason.