According to the latest numbers, the market is pulling back on sellers, and now is a great time to be a buyer.
What’s the latest news from our Northern Virginia market? Let’s take a look at some key statistics from July to find out.
July is typically a very busy month in our market, and we expect about 40% of all listed homes to sell during summer. In Prince William County, though, the number of home sales didn’t increase at all compared to last year. However, this is good news considering this number decreased the previous month compared to 2018. The average sold price in Prince William County, meanwhile, dropped almost 2% month over month, and the average days on market increased 5.6% during that same time.
In Fairfax County, the number of closed sales dropped 4.8% month over month, the average sold price dropped 1.1%, and the average days on market rose 6.5%. You usually don’t see the average days on market increase during this time, so sellers need to realize right about now that the market is pulling back.
Another tell-tale sign of this is the numbers from Alexandria City. A couple of months back, a lot of people predicted our market would go crazy because of Amazon moving their second headquarters here, but I told people that would only happen in a small area for a short time. Sure enough, closed sales in Alexandria City are down 17% year over year, the average sold price is down 3.4% month over month, and the average days on market is up 8.7% compared to June.
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If you’re a buyer, these numbers mean now is go time.
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In Arlington County, closed sales dropped 9.5% year over year, and the average sold price dropped 7.2% month over month. The good news here, though, is that the average days on market dropped 16.7% compared to the previous month.
Stafford County is an intriguing case in terms of home values: Month over month, closed sales rose 11.2%, the average sold price rose 0.4%, and the average days on market dropped 3.7%.
Lastly, in Loudoun County, it’s the same story as most of the other counties—closed sales are down 1.2%, the average sold price is down 1.4%, and the average days on market is up 22.6% month over month.
If you’re a buyer, these numbers mean now is go time, especially considering that interest rates are in the 3% range for owner-occupied properties and in 4% range for investment properties. If you’re a seller, since we already know the market is pulling pack, you need to prep your home accordingly and price it correctly from the first day you list it. You also need to make sure you hire the right agent—roughly 85% of all agents in our market have never sold a home in a “down” market.
If you have any more questions about our market or you’re ready to buy or sell now, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. These are waters we’ve navigated before, and we’d love to help you do so too. Remember: You have the dream, we have the address.
