Below are several highlights from the October 2010 Harrisonburg & Rockingham County Real Estate Market Report.  Read on, or click here to download a PDF of the entire report.



As you'll note above, there were very few home sales in September 2010.  In fact, there were very few home sales in in July, August and September!  That was, however, after very high home sales in April and June.  Thus, it would seem that the home buyer tax credit certainly rearranged the timing of 2010 home sales, regardless of whether it brought new buyers into the market nor not.  The question now, of course, is how many of the October, November and December closings were borrowed by the first half of 2010.



After multiple years of a declining sales pace, the graph above shows that we were finally seeing a reversal for the first six months of this year.  However, the past three months of slow sales has turned us back around into a declining market again.  The fourth quarter of 2010 will be quite indicative as to a reasonable 2011 forecast.



Please note, above, the silver lining.  Despite a lower than normal number of closings in September 2010 -- the buyers were out yet again, contracting to buy real estate.  In fact, with 74 properties going under contract, buyers in our market outpaced the past two Septembers.  This should be a good indicator for the coming months.



Above you'll see a decade-long comparison of two imprecise measures.  The blue bars show the number of home sales recorded in the HRAR MLS -- this does not include private sales (sans Realtor), and some new home sales. The yellow bars show the number of Trustee Deeds recorded during each of the past 10+ years. Some of these foreclosed properties (203 in 2010) then show up in the blue bar when they are listed and then sold as bank owned properties. It would seem that foreclosures have increased nearly four-fold over the past ten years, and now make up somewhere between 15% and 26% of all home sales.



My full market report (click above -- or here -- for a 20 page PDF) includes LOTS more analysis to help you make informed real estate decisions.  Read through it and let me know if you have any questions, or if any additional information would be helpful to you.

You can contact me (nearly) anytime at 540-578-0102 or scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com.

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Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com