Home Prices Edge Upward As Demand Exceeds Supply


Home Prices Edge Upward As Demand Exceeds Supply
By Scott Rogers • May 19, 2018
Find out about this newly listed custom home: 2550RamblewoodRoad.com. 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 dive into some of the latest data from our local real estate market.... As shown above, it's been an interesting start to the year... The 345 home sales seen thus far in 2018 have marked a 3.92% improvement over the first four months of last year. Despite short-term gains in the pace of home sales, the 1,274 home sales seen in the past 12 months is actually 3.78% lower than the number of sales seen in the 12 months immediately before that time. Median sales prices are ON THE RISE -- with a 6.84% year-over-year increase in the median sales price in this area. The median sales price was $190K a year ago and has now risen to $203K! Homes are selling faster -- much faster -- in a median of 31 days on the market which is 35% faster than the 48 day median as of a year ago. Shining a spotlight, briefly, on the City of Harrisonburg alone (not the County) we find... Home sales have slowed by 4.21% over the past year -- much like the overall market including the County. The median sales price has seen a LARGER increase in the City (+9.13%) as compared to the 6.84% increase overall. Homes absolutely flew off the market in April 2018 with a median days on market of six days (!?!?!) though that's not actually that much faster than last April's median of eight days! Looking at a longer timeframe, the median days on market in the City over the past year has been 17 days -- an impressive 43% faster than the 30 day median one year ago. January 2018 was a tad slow -- but then February, March and April easily outpaced the same months last year. Wow! So -- where will we go in May? Could we really see a 50% increase (from April to May) as we saw last April (100) to May (149) or will the increase be a bit more tame? Lest we get toooo overjoyed about the fantastical pace of home sales in the first four months of this year -- I will point out that the last four months of last year also looked QUITE promising, before sales slowed down during the rest of the year to actually show a net decline in the number of home sales in 2017 as compared to 2016. So -- get excited -- slowly? Cautiously? Sellers seem to be able to hold firm on their price a bit more this year than -- oh, I don't know -- any of the past 10 years!? Yes, that is true. Sellers negotiated anywhere between 2% and 4% off of their last list price over the past 10 years -- but so far in 2018, they have only negotiated 1% off of their last list price! What comes next, you might ask? Well -- we generally look at the pace of contracts to have an idea of what home sales might look like in the coming month or two. So -- what do we see now? Well, curiously, this January through April 431 properties went under contract -- and -- last January through April 431 properties went under contract. So -- yes -- it seems possible that the HOT months of home sales in May and June might be seen again this year. One of the reasons why there has been an overall decline in home sales (when looking at the past 12 moths compared to the previous 12 months) is because of declining inventory levels. There are currently 21% fewer homes on the market as compared to one year ago -- EVEN THOUGH we have seen a mini Spring surge in listings over the past few months. And finally -- those interest rates. They seem to be on the rise, woah, quite a bit! We have seen interest rates rise three quarters of one percent over the past nine-ish months. What's next? Will we push past 4.61% and start approaching 5%? Some say so. I don't think we will, but I have been wrong plenty of times over the past 5+ years about trends in mortgage interest rates. OK -- I'll stop there for now. Again, you can download the full report as a PDF, read the entire report with commentary online, or keep reading my blog in the coming days for further commentary. AND -- if you're thinking of buying or selling soon --- SELLERS -- even though it is a seller's market in many price ranges right now, you must still focus on price, condition and marketing. BUYERS -- it can be difficult and frustrating to buy right now -- make it a bit easier for yourself by knowing the market, knowing the process, knowing your buying power, and closely monitoring new listings! For further reading on buying or selling in this area, check out.... 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 Recent Articles: 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 Consider The Cost Of Your Planned Renovations When Planning Your Offer
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 21, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
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