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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

Single Family Homes in Purcellville

Condos/Townhomes in Purcellville

Single Family Homes in Round Hill

Condos/Townhomes in Round Hill

Last week we took a look at the market on the Eastern side of Loudoun County, in Sterling, and found that pricing there was mostly stable over the last six months, while inventory had dropped. Now, let’s look at the westernmost part of the county, and see how it compares.  (Trends typically start in Sterling and then ripple west through LoCo.)

I’ve included the charts for townhomes in Purcellville and Round Hill, but only to show that there is not enough market activity to be statistically significant. There are only 8 on the market in Purcellville, and 3 in Round Hill, so any special situation on any one listing (short sale, foreclosure, etc) can cause a huge swing in numbers.  So those numbers are just there for your viewing pleasure. (smile)

For single family homes in both towns, we have seen a drop in inventory in the last six months, similar to what has happened in Sterling, if not as dramatic.  Median price for Purcellville has dropped slightly, but has stayed mostly stable in Round Hill (the weekly up and down swings there is because of the low number of homes on the market and the wide swing in home prices, but the overall median price line has remained right around $500,000).  Average days on market is up slightly in Purcellville and down slightly in Round Hill.

Concerned about what this means for your home’s value? Or wondering how it might affect your home buying strategy? Just ask. Or call or text me at 571-233-5491, it’s what I’m here for.

Cheers,

Heather

]]> http://www.locomarketstats.com/2009/11/western-loco-looks-like-this/feed/ 2 http://www.locomarketstats.com/2009/06/real-time-stats-at-loco-market-stats/ http://www.locomarketstats.com/2009/06/real-time-stats-at-loco-market-stats/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:23:21 +0000 Heather Elias http://www.locomarketstats.com/?p=247

I just set up a page for real estate market statistics for Loudoun County that automatically updates on a weekly basis when new data becomes available. If you look in the top menu above, you’ll see a tab for Real Time Stats. Feel free to bookmark it and visit to see the latest trends. My posts on the site will continue to drill down into the data to give you more specific analysis, but you can visit that page for an overview. Each of the individual town statistic sites will have more zip code specific information, too.

Also, if you would like to get an email report tailored to your specific zip code and property type, just fill out this form (keep in mind that the Condo report includes townhomes, too!) :

Cheers,
Heather

Today I wanted to bring you some data on what is happening in the western part of Loudoun County. It’s no secret that the market adjusts the further west you go; the commuting time gets longer to employment hubs in Dulles, Tysons Corner, and Washington DC, but the home prices are lower, so you get more house for your money the further you are willing to drive. Typically what we see when the market starts to adjust, is that it’s like a pebble in the pond, rippling out from DC to points further away. While Fairfax County saw recovery faster than Loudoun, the eastern part of Loudoun County, in Sterling, Ashburn, and Leesburg, have now stabilized and are seeing median price increases and low inventory. In western Loudoun, Hamilton has stabilized in price (no increase yet) but Purcellville, Round Hill, and Lovettsville are still showing median price decline for single family homes. Inventory in the western part of the county is just as low as in the east. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will see these graphs start to behave like the ones I posted last week for the eastern part of the county.

For comparison’s sake, here’s single family home median prices in Leesburg:

However, as you start to move west across the county, here’s what you find:

If you have questions or would like more information about a specific area, feel free to click on the Ask Heather button to reach out to me!

Cheers,

Heather

Let’s take a look at median home price across Loudoun County for this week…starting with the single family home segment in Sterling. Holy cow, look at the increase~~ that’s about a $50,000 jump over the course of a month.  At the same time, condo/townhome prices seem to have bottomed and are creeping up a bit.

In Ashburn, prices are still steady for single family homes since the beginning of March, while condo/townhomes are  still dipping down.  As I have been working with clients trying to find a single family home in Ashburn in the last few weeks, I can assure you there is very little inventory under $500,000 that isn’t a short sale.

As we get a little further out in the county, median single family home price is creeping up slightly in Leesburg, as condo/townhome median price continues to remain stable.  For the homebuyers I’ve worked with in Leesburg in the last month, multiple offer situations are very common on homes in good condition, priced reasonably.

Lastly, waaaay out there in Purcellville (which isn’t really that far out, I live there) the median price on single family homes is still coming down; compared to the eastern parts of the county that’s some significant movement since the beginning of March.  Townhome median price continues to be volatile, as we have two disparate price points for townhomes with nothing in between.

Sometimes it’s tough to judge how things are going when you are only looking at the charts…speaking from a listing agent’s perspective, if you are looking to sell and you live in the Sterling/Ashburn areas, and your sale doesn’t involve a lender approving a loss on the transaction (short sale), you can sell a well priced home in a very reasonable amount of time (under a month, in many cases). If you are in Leesburg or Purcellville it might take a little longer but buyer demand is still strong. Questions about a specific neighborhood or zip code? Leave a comment here or shoot me an email, I’m happy to help.

Cheers,
Heather

This week in real estate news brought an announcement from the National Association of Realtors that pending home sales were up nationally for the second month in a row. The Virginia Association of Realtor’s latest batch of numbers showed that the median home price had increased 7.8% from the prior quarter. Wow, rising prices, uptick in listings sold? These are the things that need to happen for the housing market to recover, folks. As long as we don’t see a bunch of new listings from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s decision to end the moratorium on foreclosures, we may very well see this market moving in a positive direction. The mainstream media, however, largely ignored the NAR announcement….

Loudoun County had 83 new listings come on market last week, with 76 listings absorbed. Again, the majority of the activity, with 15 new listings and 23 listings absorbed, took place in the 20164 zip code in Sterling. Outside of that one zip code, the lowest median price in any zip code in the county was $484,735 in 20180, which is Lovettsville. The most expensive zip code? At a median price of $846,827, is Middleburg, the 20117 zip code.

Here’s what caught my eye in this week’s charts… Single family home median prices continue to be steady everywhere but Purcellville, where they are still sliding down a little. Hopefully the western part of the county will soon turn to match pace with the eastern part. Sterling, though, is seeing some gain in median price as the market remains very busy there. Condo/townhome prices are remaining flat in Leesburg and Sterling, while dropping in Ashburn. Not sure why this is the case in Ashburn, whether it has to do with the number  of bank owned listings bringing it down? We’ll have to watch to see if that trend continues.  Purcellville, meanwhile, has seen a big jump upward, which means that there were probably more listings selling in the Purcellville Ridge community (the two car garage, Toll Brothers built homes on the right as you come into town) instead of the lower priced, older townhomes. The low volume for sales of condos/townhomes in Purcellville means that a few transactions can cause a big swing in the median price there.

Single Family Home Median Price

Condo/Townhome Median Price

For average days on market, it’s clear on the single family homes chart that we are seeing a dip across the county after having a jump up in late March/ early April.  Overall the average is a little higher than it was back in the winter. For condos and townhomes, though, we see a wide disparity in towns: Purcellville’s drop can be attributed to severely low inventory. Ashburn’s uptick matches up with the decline in median price (prices coming down as homes sit on the market longer). Sterling, with the busier market, is showing a decline in days on market, while Leesburg seems to be holding steady for the last month.

Average Days on Market for Single Family Homes

Average Days on Market for Condos/Townhomes

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Cheers,
Heather