News
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Enjoy Taste of Downtown, Aug 12-18, 2013 |
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Make sure to enjoy some of these dining specials in Downtown Harrisonburg this week....  | |
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Foreclosures down 22% YTD in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County |
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Strong Home Sales (+21%), Improving Prices (+3%) in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County |
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I have just released my August 2013 monthly market report covering the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County housing market. Click here to download the full report as a PDF, read on for some highlights, or click here to view more details on the cover home, 1032 James Place.  The big picture indicators in our local market are all positive when we look at January through July home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County....  As shown above:
Assuming you are hoping for a strengthening local housing market, these are all great news for our local area. Below you can see the reason why the year-to-date home sales figures are so strong....
As you can see, above, the past four months of home sales (Apr, May, Jun, Jul) have been much stronger than any of the previous three years --- with the one exception of June 2010 when the federal home buyer tax credit expired. What, you might ask, should we expect for the next few months?
Based on the trend in signed contracts, shown above, I believe we will continue to see strong home sales over the next several months. It is also important to note that it's not just the short term indicators that are positive in our local housing market....
Each of the data points on the graph shown above takes 12 months of data into account --- thus these trends take a long time to show any substantial change, but they are excellent indicators of the overall shifts in a housing market. As can be seen, above, we are seeing steady growth in the pace of home sales, and stability in home values. There is a LOT more in my full report, including....
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Are home prices up 12.2% in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County? |
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 As you may have read about in the news, home values (nationally) are increasing.... USA TODAY: May home prices show 12.2% annual increaseSo, is that what we're seeing here in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County as well? As shown in the chart at the top, we have only seen a 0.2% annual increase in prices in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Review a full battery of local housing market trends here. | |
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Mortgage Interest Rates Continue to Fluctuate |
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 Rates are down (4.31%) as compared to a few weeks ago (4.51%), even though they have climbed quite a bit from two months ago (3.59%). Bear in mind, that these sub-4.5% rates have only existed for the past two years. Thus, we are still in a period of amazing opportunity for fixing in a low monthly housing cost given these historically low rates. | |
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You can help PLAN OUR PARK! |
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 Mark your calendars.... Public meetings & charettes City Council Chambers at 409 S. Main St. Wednesday, July 31, 3-5 pm AND 7-9 pm Give Input! The design team, which is composed of eight local, regional, and national firms representing multiple disciplines, will hold two public meetings and design charrettes (designers discuss solutions for park). Presentation of initial findings and next steps City Council Chambers at 409 S. Main St. Saturday, August 3, 9:30 am Learn more! This follow-up meeting will present initial findings and inform the public of the next steps in the park process. Come on out and take an active role in helping to shape our community! Visit the Plan Our Park Facebook page for more details. | |
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New City Park for Downtown Harrisonburg? |
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 A design team is studying the possibility of a new park in Downtown Harrisonburg, and the scope of the project seems to be expanding with the announcement that an option has been negotiated to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home, which is located adjacent to several other City properties including Community Development, the Municipal Building and Turner Pavilion. Below is a map I put together based on the information I have been able to gather thus far. Click on the map for a larger image.  Read more about the park the option to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home in this recent DNR article.... HARRISONBURG — A committee pitching an urban park in downtown Harrisonburg announced Friday a privately negotiated option to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home on South Main Street, which could create a larger layout for the proposed attraction. | |
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Home Sales Up 22%, Foreclosures Down 26% |
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 These are both great indicators for our local housing market --- home sales are up (22%) and foreclosures are down (26%) in the first six months of the year, as compared to the first six months of last year. | |
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Sign up for the Harrisonburg Rockingham Emergency Alert System |
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 The City of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County encourages all residents and businesses within the boundaries of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to provide contact information so that you may be notified in the event of an emergency or life threatening weather event (tornado, flash flood warning, etc). If you are a resident, employee or student in either community, you may choose to provide e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers that would be used to notify you if any of the situations listed above occur. You may choose to "opt out" of this notification at any time. Providing your contact information is strictly voluntary and your information will be kept confidential. Your contact information will not be released to any other agency, entity, or organization. Click here to sign up for the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Alert System. | |
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Foreclosures slowing in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County |
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 Based on Jan 1 - May 31 data (78 recorded Trustee Sales) the foreclosure rate seems to be slowing in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. This is good news for the local housing market, as foreclosures (and bank owned properties) can have a negative impact on home values. | |
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June 2013 Local Housing Market Report: Sales Increasing, Prices Stable. |
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I have just released my June 2013 monthly market report covering the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County housing market. Click here to download the full report as a PDF, read on for some highlights, or click here to view more details on the cover home, 2694 Eversole Road.  Some of the most exciting news in this report is that buyer activity continues to be strong, both in closed sales, and properties going under contract. Below we can see that both April and May were very strong months of closed transactions which have lead to a 26% year-to-date improvement in the pace of sales in this area.  In addition to strong sales (closings) over the past two months, we have also seen record numbers of buyers signing contracts in recent months. Last month, 143 buyers signed contracts to buy residential properties in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County --- well more than than any other recent month.  So, as home sales have increased, and contracts have increased, what have we seen as far as home values? For almost two years now, median home prices have hovered right around $175K in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  In further good news, foreclosure have been declining thus far in 2013 as compared to the overall number of home sales.  Read more, lots more, in my full monthly market report. Click here to download the full June 2013 Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Real Estate Market Report. And as always, if you're interested in talking to me about buying a home in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County.....or if you are interested in selling your current home.....just drop me a line by email (scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com) or call me at 540-578-0102. | |
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143 Contracts Signed in May 2013 (most contracts per month in at least six years!) |
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 I have been tracking contract activity over over six years and I have never seen contract levels this high in a single month. Over the past six years, we never saw any more than 121 contracts signed in a single month. Last month, there were an astonishing 143 contracts signed! | |
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Local unemployment levels hit 4.5 year low in April 2013, but.... |
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 If the past five years are any indicator, the local unemployment rate will start increasing again in May. As shown above, April has consistently been a low point for unemployment rates in our area, followed by increases in May, June, July. Can anyone offer any insight or guesses as to why this happens so consistently in this area? | |
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Lots (lots!) of contracts signed thus far in May 2013 |
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 If the first 28 days of May are any indication, our local housing market will be setting new records this month. There have already been 125 contracts signed on residential real estate listings in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County this month. That is nearly double the pace of contract signing seen in previous months of May. | |
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How strong were the first four months of home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County this year? |
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 As you can see, the first four months of 2013 were quite strong when it comes to the number of home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County....
Hopefully our local real estate market will continue to track on this trajectory as the year continues! | |
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Home sales soar in April 2013 to highest level since June 2010 |
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I just published my monthly market report on the local housing market and there is plenty of good news in many segments of the market. Click the cover of the report below to download the entire report as a PDF or read on below for some highlights.  Cover Home: 3291 Barrington Drive, Harrisonburg, VA After a relatively mild month of home sales in March, there were an astonishing 100 home sales in April 2013 (see below) -- bringing us to the highest level since June 2010 when buyers had their last chance to cash in on the federal home buyer tax credit.  Beyond the single month of market exuberance shown above, it is also important to examine long term trends. Below you will note that for the past two years we have seen stable prices and an ever increasing rate of annualized home sales.  The future looks positive as well, with another strong month of contracts in April (116) piling on top of March's 114 contracts.  It should be noted that the market improvements described above vary based on price range, property type and location. As shown below, the lower price ranges have seen a greater improvement in sales than the higher price ranges.  There is plenty more inside the full report, including....
Click here to download the full May 2013 Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Real Estate Market Report. And as always, if you're interested in talking to me about buying a home in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County.....or if you are interested in selling your current home.....just drop me a line by email (scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com) or call me at 540-578-0102. | |
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Will Harrisonburg pay $9.5M towards a $40M downtown public-private hotel and conference center? |
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 A private developer (dpM Partners, LLC) is proposing to build a hotel and conference center in Downtown Harrisonburg. The $40M project would be (per the proposal) paid for with $9.5M of public funds towards the 18,180 SF conference center.....and the remaining $39.5M of private funds would help build the remainder of the project to include a 205-room hotel and a restaurant. Thus far.....
And the latest update is that the developer will likely be ready to present the detailed plans (and feasibility study) to City Council by early summer. Read today's DNR article for more details. | |
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BIG Small Business Event of 2013 |
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 This full-day conference provides professional development and networking opportunities to entrepreneurs, managers, and business owners. Click here to learn more about the schedule of events, speakers and workshops. Click here to register for the event. | |
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Local unemployment rate drops below 5% for first time in 50 months |
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 The Harrisonburg / Rockingham unemployment rate dropped below 5% for the first time in 50 months in March. This is a good sign for our local economy, and also speaks to trends being seen across the state and country as well. | |
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
Licensed in the
Commonwealth of Virginia
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