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Cheers,
Heather

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Well, I’ve been really apprehensive of what our real estate market would look like in Loudoun County after the first time homebuyer tax credit expired. (which happened last Friday, so you can go ahead and exhale now)

Look at what our inventory levels did in the last couple of weeks…a lot of homes on the market all of a sudden. And apparently there wasn’t quite enough buyer demand to soak up all those homes. Of course, we’ll have to watch closely in the next few weeks to see if demand will pick up and these houses will go under contract. Otherwise days on market will increase and things will definitely have slowed down.

Cheers,
Heather

I thought it might be helpful to look at how the current market climate has affected median price in different towns across the county. The first chart shows single family home data, and the second shows the combined condo/townhome market.

Everything seemed pretty stable right up until the beginning of March, huh? I’m guessing that the last rush of contracts for folks taking advantage of the first time homebuyer tax credit is what has caused such dramatic change in pricing and inventory. Anyone that wants to use that credit has to be under contract by the end of April, so I expect that we will see prices flatten out again after that. I’m very curious to see if our sales volume will continue at a steady pace, or if it will be very quiet for a bit after that.

If you have any questions about how this may affect you or your home’s value, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Cheers,
Heather

One of the statistics I rarely look at is price per square foot, because it is typically the most stable in the short term. Going into the spring market, I thought it would be helpful to look at where the median price per square foot is for different towns in Loudoun County.  Remember that ‘condo’ really means ‘condo and townhomes.’

For the whole county, you can see the slide downward as the median price dropped across the county from 2007 through 2009. From the beginning of 2009 to now, it’s stabilized to within $5 a square foot, looking at single family homes or condos/townhomes.

Sterling is trending slightly below the Loudoun average for condos and townhomes, but in line with the rest of the county for single family homes. There is definitely a bigger disparity between home types here than on a county-wide level.

In Ashburn, there is no discernable difference in price per square foot between home types. Expect to spend around $160 a square foot, no matter what you are purchasing. Therefore, condos and townhomes are more expensive in Ashburn than in Sterling when you are looking at cost per square foot.

Leesburg is like Ashburn, because right now the cost per square foot is the same across all home types; however it’s about $10 less per square foot than in Ashburn. So you can afford a bit more home for your money, but your commute time is slightly longer as you head East.

In Hamilton, you can basically disregard the stats for condos and townhomes, as there are so few that it makes it statistically irrelevant. Single family homes are averaging about the same as Leesburg, but have not seen the huge rise and fall that the rest of the county saw between 2007 and 2009.

Single family homes in Purcellville are trending as high as the county average for dollars per square foot, refuting the theory of saving money by living further out. (Although in actuality, with the low number of homes on the market right now, it could be that what is available in Purcellville right now is in better shape, or newer, than what is on the market in the Eastern part of the county. Sometimes statistics don’t make sense to me, and this is one of those times.)

As expected, Round Hill is the least expensive as the most outlying town in the county, with the single family home price per square foot coming in about $20 a square foot less than the county average, and condos/townhomes about $25 a square foot less.

If you would like to see statistics specific to your neighborhood, or the neighborhoods you are interested in, just hit the Ask Heather button and let me know what you are looking for.

Cheers,

Heather

We haven’t looked at stats tables for Ashburn in a while, so let’s see what happened with the market there last week while we had a whole bunch of snow on the ground:

90-day stats for Single Family properties in ASHBURN, VA as of July 23, 2010
Median List Price:	$595,123	Average List Price:	$649,488
Total Inventory:	326	Price per Square Foot:	$156
Average Home Size:	3,980	Median Lot Size:	10,387
Average # Beds:	4.39	Average # Baths:	3.83
Homes Absorbed:	11	Newly Listed:	25
Days on Market:	110	Average Age:	8

90-day stats for Condo properties in ASHBURN, VA as of July 23, 2010
Median List Price:	$318,658	Average List Price:	$314,443
Total Inventory:	376	Price per Square Foot:	$159
Average Home Size:	1,887	Median Lot Size:	n/a
Average # Beds:	2.88	Average # Baths:	2.73
Homes Absorbed:	12	Newly Listed:	36
Days on Market:	98	Average Age:	9

Interesting..look at the “homes absorbed” versus “homes listed” numbers for both single family homes and condo/townhomes….when they match like that, it means that homes are selling as quickly as they hit the market.  The average days on market still feels high to me when we are seeing that kind of market activity, I attribute it to the short sales that skew the data. If there was a way to separate out “traditional” sales (not a foreclosure or short sale) I bet we would find very short days on market, bordering on seller’s market, because of the low amount of inventory available.

Want market data specific to your neighborhood and home type? Try out the What’s My Home Worth function to get a customized report. (It’s great, has up to date info, clickable listing information and maps on active, under contract, and sold listings.)

Cheers,

Heather

Homeowners in Ashburn, take note…if you are thinking of selling, don’t just look at the overall market in your town, look at how your particular home type stacks up. There is a pretty significant difference in what is going on in the single family home market in Ashburn compared to the condo/townhome market. Look at the difference in the charts below. (You can click on them, too, to change the length of time shown, and mouse over the charts to see exact numbers from different dates. Go on, play with them, I know you want to.)

For single family homes, median price seems to be slipping a little bit (which matches up with the last two years as we have transitioned from summer to fall.) If you are thinking of selling, you might want to wait until spring to see if the prices trend back upwards…however, inventory levels now are very, very low so your home is not likely to sit on the market very long if it presents well and is priced appropriately.

Now, if you own a condo or townhome, and you are looking to move up to a single family home, now might be a good time to do it. Median price is up a bit, and inventory is low. (Not as low as the single family home inventory, but still low from a historical perspective.) One way to make that type of a transaction work is to put a ‘home of choice’ contingency in the contract to purchase your current home, which gives you a set period of time (a couple of weeks, typically) to identify and get under contract on your new home, before the contract to purchase your home is completely locked in. Just my thoughts. Questions? Reach out to me!

Cheers,
Heather

Mosey over to Leesburg Market Stats or Ashburn Market Stats to read the latest updates on single family home market activity in each of those towns; I just posted there based on this week’s statistics.

Cheers,

Heather

Take a peek at the charts below, which give you a snapshot of both the single family home market and the condo/townhome market in Sterling, Ashburn, and Leesburg. One of the main things that jumps out at me is how the “Homes Absorbed” compare to the “Newly Listed”~~since in all cases those numbers are very close, it shows us that houses are pretty much selling as fast as they are hitting the market. Our inventory level isn’t increasing as the summer months wane, as it usually does.

You can also get a feel for what is selling the fastest by looking at the days on market.  Not surprisingly, the condos and townhomes, which are lower price points for the most part, are selling more quickly than the single family homes.  (In Sterling, the days on market are similar for single family homes and condo/townhomes, but there are a slew of older single family homes in the same price bracket as the condo/townhomes.)

If you’d like a free statistical report on your zip code and home type emailed to you,  fill out the Subscribe Now form at the top of this page!

Cheers,
Heather

Just posted at Ashburn Market Stats… Prices Trend Up, Sellers Take Notice …looks like prices in Ashburn are trending up. Stop by and read!

Cheers,

Heather