Are you thinking about selling this spring? Or do you just want to make sure that your new property tax assessment matches up with market value? This should help: here’s the data for single family homes in Loudoun. If you want information targeted directly to your home and neighborhood, click here to schedule a consultation or sign up for an emailed market report.

All charts show data for single family homes:

Sterling Single Family Homes

Ashburn Single Family Homes

Leesburg Single Family Homes

Purcellville Single Family Homes

Cheers,
Heather

I’ve been reading a number of articles in the last few weeks saying the 2012 real estate market is ready for a rebound and thought it was worth a look. Although the LoCo market has not been as adversely affected as others, the numbers do suggest things are on the upswing. Compared to last December, median prices are up 7% on single family homes and 23% on condos/townhomes! As of this post, there are 951 active listings (excluding new construction) in Loudoun County and 332 homes have gone under contract in the last 30 days. That equates to 2.9 months of inventory at the current sales pace. We also see average days on market is about two weeks less than this time last year. These statistics lend credence to what we are hearing from national outlets, but the most important question is what does this mean to you. Click here to send us your question and we can help with the answer.

Cheers,
Mike

A year ago we took a look at the median price per square foot for Loudoun County. At that time the price per square foot was $160, and as we see below the price of owning one square foot in LoCo has jumped to $190. It bears mentioning you must always factor in age, updates, amenities and of course location when considering what this may mean for your specific home. 

A year ago, Sterling led the way at $165 per square foot, and has since increased by $2 but fallen to the bottom of the chart this year. Ashburn tops the chart this fall going from $159 to $196, followed by Leesburg jumping up from $149 to $189, and Purcellville from $153 to $180. These figures seem to make sense when you consider the reduced number of short sales and foreclosures over the past year.

Interested in what this means for you? Contact us and we would be happy to help you assess your needs and develop a plan of action.

Cheers,
Mike

The new school year is almost upon us in Loudoun, and the real estate market slows down accordingly…here’s the latest data for both Leesburg zip codes combined:

Inventory continues to creep up, and median price is holding steady. Days on market, which had fallen steadily since April, appears to be inching back up a bit. I expect that will rise a bit if inventory continues to go up; this isn’t historically a busy period of the year for contracts.

Cheers,
Heather

So it’s mid-May and the inventory still feels low to me; thought it would be worthwhile to look at where our inventory levels really sit for Loudoun. As always, keep in mind the condo line includes townhomes as well…

Looking from the first of the year forward, it doesn’t look like we’ve gained much inventory in either section of the market. This is surprising, given that this is seasonally the busiest point of the year. Disregarding the blip in my statistics from last summer, we’ve seen a moderate increase over the winter, but stability since then. While this is a county-wide overview, let’s look at how some of the towns are performing:

Cheers,
Heather

Having already checked out the single family homes market in Sterling and Ashburn, what’s going on in Leesburg, and how does it compare? Here are the charts, as of this week:

So median price is trending up, with a 6% gain since January, although it’s down (barely, 1.6%) versus April 2010. Inventory is up 12% compared to this time last year, and average days on market is up 16% over the same time period. The increase in days on market is likely because last year, we were working through the end of the first time homebuyer tax credit, and houses were flying off the market the closer we got to that deadline. Median price per square foot, meanwhile, jumped up 19% since October, after having held steady for well over a year.

What does this mean for you as a homeowner or potential buyer? If you are thinking about moving this spring, get information that is more specifically tailored to your situation. And if you don’t have an agent to work with, please give me the opportunity to earn your business. It’s what I’m here for, after all.

Cheers,
Heather

(another photo credit to Mom and Dad, and their garden)

The question I get asked on a daily basis… “How’s the market?” Here’s some charts that will tell you exactly how the market is doing for single family homes in Ashburn, Sterling, and Leesburg. Pop in tomorrow and I’ll update you on condos and townhomes then.

Ashburn Single Family Homes

Sterling Single Family Homes

Leesburg Single Family Homes

Thinking of listing your home for sale and want more detailed information? Get a clickable market report tailored to your home address, emailed to you.

Cheers,

Heather

I recently posted on LoCo Musings and here to analyze how much of our active real estate market is currently made up of ‘distressed’ sales, meaning short sales or foreclosures. What I found is that it varies depending where in the county you are, and also what home type you are looking at. Here’s the overall picture for the county:

So, the vast majority of listings, 74%, are ‘traditional’, non-bank involved, owner sales. Only 26% are ‘distressed’, and only 6% of those are foreclosed homes. (Here’s a post I wrote explaining the difference between short sales and foreclosures.) Now here is how the active listings look only in Leesburg:

Matches up with the county as a whole, huh? Just one percent higher foreclosures, one percent lower short sales. Let’s look at it in Leesburg based on property type:

Now we can see a difference, huh? Single family (detached) homes have fewer ‘distressed’ properties; although the percentage of foreclosures listings is about the same, there are significantly fewer short sales.  Meanwhile, the Leesburg townhome market is much harder hit, with a full 34% of active properties listed as short sales.  The condo market, while having 28% distressed properties, has over double the percentage of foreclosure listings than the single family and townhome markets.

The message here for Leesburg is that it very much depends on home type if you are wondering how distressed sales are affecting the real estate market. Detached homes are faring the best, while townhomes are being impacted by short sales, and condo listings are more likely to be foreclosures.

Would you like to know how this specifically affects a particular neighborhood? Please fill out a quick form with a few property details and I can give you very detailed statistics.

Cheers,
Heather

So the trend lines across Loudoun County right now for housing inventory show that the number of homes for sale is down. Leesburg is no different, in either of the two zip codes.  The current levels just about match up with where we were this time last year.  I’ll be interested to see if they hold at this level through the winter (like last year) or if they will continue to drop…

Cheers,
Heather

When I start to look at real estate statistics in different parts of Loudoun County, I’m usually pretty confident about the types of trends I will see. Take a look below at the difference between the two zip codes in Leesburg, when comparing median price per square foot of homes.  Why are condos and townhomes are more expensive than single family homes per square foot in the 20176 zip code, and less expensive in the 20175 zip?  Looks like the price per square foot has fluctuated more for single family homes in 20176 than anywhere else, perhaps hit harder by foreclosures and short sales?

The median price per square foot for condos and townhomes in 20175 have made a fantastic recovery since the summer of ’09, climbing from below $130 a square foot to close to $150 now. That’s quite a difference in price! I am also very surprised to see that single family homes in 20175 have a higher median price per square foot than those in 20176, which is usually newer (and more expensive) homes.

Questions about how this relates to your home or neighborhood? Just ask.

Cheers,

Heather