The beautiful home on the cover of my market report is 135 York Place - check it out here!

Yes, yes, I know.  Within mere hours of sending this market report that mentions are area's unseasonably warm temperatures of late -- it will be snowing -- but I am not going to believe it is really happening until I see the snowflakes myself. 

If it does snow, feel free to take a break from clearing the driveway to sit by the fire, drinking hot cocoa, reading my full monthly market report.

Now, on with the news of our local housing market....

As you'd guess from the header image above, 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 hear me talk about this -- tune in to my monthly video overview of our local housing market....



Next, some basic stats that we keep up with on a monthly basis....

OK -- a few things to note here, based on the data table above....

First, so far, it is looking like one of my 2017 predictions might be wildly incorrect.  I have had some concerns about whether there would be enough housing inventory to support the same sales levels as we experienced last year.  So far, it has not been a problem.  Even though there are now 25% fewer homes on the market as compared to a year ago, we have actually seen a net gain (small as it may be) of two more sales (137) in the first two months of 2017 as compared to (135) last year.

Also referencing the data table above, when looking at the rolling 12-month median sales price, we are still seeing a 3-ish percent increase in median sales price as compared to a year ago.  Finally, homes have been selling 9% faster in the past 12 months as compared to the previous 12 months.



Looking at the graph above, you might note the extraordinarily high home sales seen last year in the months of March through June, as well August and September.  The mystery this year is whether our local housing market can stay on pace with that aggressive pace of home sales.  So far, so good!  This January and February both barely edged out the same month last year -- so we are seeing a year-to-date increase in the number of homes sold in this local market.



Next, looking at the graph above we note that February 2017 saw 87 buyers signing contracts to buy homes -- as compared to only 84 last February.  This small jump is reassuring after having seen a decline from 74 contracts to 67 contracts when comparing the past to months of January.  All-in-all, the annual increase in contract activity (from 1156 to 1327) make sense in the light of the 15% increase in the pace of home sales that we have seem over the past year.



So -- how about those inventory levels?  We have seen a 25% year-over-year decline in our market's overall inventory levels.  Buyers today only have 402 homes to choose from as compared to 539 a year ago -- though that masks the super-limited choices buyers ACTUALLY have once they introduce their overlays of price, location, size, age, etc.  All that said, we are finally starting to see the normal, seasonal increases in listing inventory we'd expect to see at this time of year.  Inventory has climbed from 368 homes to 402 homes over the past month.

OK -- I'm going to pause there for now and go try to find my snow boots.  I'll look further at trends in our local housing market in coming days on my blog. Until then, feel free to read my full online market report, or download the PDF, or click here to sign up to receive my real estate blog by email.

And -- as is always my encouragement -- if you will be buying or selling a home in the near future, start learning about our local housing market sooner rather than later!  Being informed will allow you to make better real estate decisions.

Here are two handy references to prepare yourself to buy or sell a home....

• BuyingAHomeInHarrisonburg.com


• SellingAHomeInHarrisonburg.com

And if you are ready to get the process started, simply contact me at 540-578-0102 or scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com.
 

Receive Updates by Email

Subscribe

Recent Articles:

• Is There A Price You WOULD Pay For This House?
• There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase
• Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg
• Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later?
• How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market?
• Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market
• Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing
• Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos
• How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings?
• One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell

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