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

We haven’t taken a look at Sterling in 6 months so it was time to check in. While the market here seems to be a bit more volatile than the rest of the county, there is a trend worth mentioning. In 2010 and 2011 the highest median price for single family and condo/ town homes occurs in the August September time frame. In addition, over the last two years Sterling home owners have seen a 33% increase in the median sales price. That is a remarkable gain! Average days on market are on the incline again for single family homes, showing a 30% increase over this time last year . Condo and town home days on market are even with a year ago, but down 10% since the spring. Inventory levels for single family homes are up about 20% since the early spring, while condo and town home volume remains the same.

Need more information or have questions for us? Drop us an email or catch us on Twitter @LoCoHeather & @LoCoCowboy.

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

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

Yesterday we looked at the market for single family homes in Ashburn. Today, let’s see what’s going on in Sterling. Here’s how the statistical charts look this week:

Median price catches my eye right away…that’s a jump of 20% since the beginning of the year! Big movement in this area. Inventory, meanwhile, is down about 10% from where we were last April. No wonder prices have come up a bit. This matches up with what I’ve been seeing; I’ve had buyers in multiple offer situations in Sterling this spring, for homes that had just come on market.  Average days on market is up 25% compared to April 2010, and I’m guessing that’s because we were in the middle of the first time homebuyer tax credit last year, and everyone was rushing to get under contract.  The chart for median price per square foot shows a bit of movement, but going as far back as October of 2009, we’ve wiggled no more than 4% in either direction; hovering around $165 per square foot, give or take a couple of dollars. Keep an eye on that trend line, though, if it continues to move up, that will be the highest it’s been in the last few years.

So what does that mean for you, if you are thinking about making a move this spring? It means you should get information that is tailored more specifically to your situation, so that you can make informed decisions. If you aren’t working with an agent, and would like my help, please reach out to me; I’m a career real estate agent and am happy to advise.

Cheers,

Heather

(and another photo credit to my mom and dad, for sharing their daffodil photo…)

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

It never fails…if we get a stretch of warm weather, the real estate market warms up a notch as well. I know we’ve only really had one day of warmer weather so far, but I’m an optimist, and I am soooo ready for spring to get here! Have you started thinking about the spring real estate market? Before it arrives in full force, let’s take a look at inventory levels in Sterling.  The first chart shows us the number of single family homes that are available on the market right now, across all zip codes in Sterling:

The second chart, even though it says ‘Condo Inventory’, actually includes townhomes and patio homes as well. While both show an increase in the last couple of months, we are still at low inventory levels when you look back on the last several years. I can promise you, I’ve been out showing homes to buyers, and there is very little to choose from in some price ranges! I’m expecting a seasonal uptick in the number of available homes to start any day now, but I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe the warmer weather the later part of this week will spur it along?

Here’s a map of available homes on the market right now in Sterling:

As always, please reach out to me if you have questions about the market or want to chat about your home buying or selling strategy. It’s what I’m here for!

Cheers,
Heather

I posted last week on LoCo Musings and LoCo Market Stats analyzing how much of our active real estate market in Loudoun 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:

The vast majority of listings, nearly three quarters (74%) are ‘normal’, meaning no lender or bank involvement.(Here’s a post I wrote explaining the difference between short sales and foreclosures.) Personally I had expected that the 6% would be higher, although foreclosure listings can be bought in a much faster time frame, typically, than short sales, so they tend to go under contract more quickly. Here’s how the market looks in Sterling, specifically:

Comparing the Sterling active listings to all of Loudoun County, and we see that there are more short sales and slightly more foreclosures, so that 8% more of the active market is ‘distressed’ in Sterling. However, it very much depends on what type of home you are looking at in Sterling. Here’s how it breaks down by home type:

Detached, single family homes in Sterling actually have fewer short sales than the overall Loudoun short sale percentage, although a bit more foreclosures; leaving the percentage of ‘normal’ transactions the same (and higher than that for Sterling as a whole). The active townhomes in Sterling, though, are very hard hit with short sales, a full 37%, so only 58% of active townhome listings are non-distressed. The condo market, not unlike in Ashburn, has nearly half of active listings classified as short sales or foreclosures, the majority of those being short sales.

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

We’re now in the fall season, so it’s a great time to take stock of where the real estate market has been this year, and where it looks like we are heading.  For starters, let’s look at inventory levels in the three Sterling zip codes. Like we’ve seen in the rest of Loudoun, inventory levels across Sterling rose dramatically in the spring and summer, then dropped off as we’ve headed into fall. This is consistent across home types; and the current inventory levels are comparable to October 2009.  I’m interested to see if the number of homes available for sale continues to fall through the winter, or if it stabilizes at the current level.

Cheers,

Heather