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Pent Up Demand Continues, Election Jitters Subside: 25 Percent More Buyers Sign on the Dotted Line in November, reports the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors®
Fairfax – Homebuyers in Northern Virginia this past November were not kicking tires. The November housing market gained compared to November 2015 in the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® region, which includes the counties of Fairfax and Arlington, and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax and Clifton. The average and median sales prices leveled off with each having about a 2 percent decline, which helps buyers understand that waiting does not present advantages.
“More local buyers and sellers reached agreements this November, resulting in a 25 percent rise in home sales compared to last year, perhaps because of a sense of urgency,” said 2016 NVAR Chairman Virgil Frizzell. “The changing political landscape and likely increases in interest rates may have spurred this decisiveness. Also, strong employment and pent-up demand were factors," he said. In addition to the 1,542 closings that occurred, the number of days houses stayed on the market declined by 7 percent, he added.
“No question that Northern Virginia residents have confidence in our local economy regardless of who occupies the White House,” said NVAR CEO Ryan Conrad. “The half of a percentage point increase of interest rates right after the election could be the first other increases to come. Savvy buyers want more house for their dollar once they decide to let go of their current home and mortgage.” The cost of borrowing money is expected to rise, so eager homebuyers act, according to Conrad.
“No question that Northern Virginia residents have confidence in our local economy regardless of who occupies the White House.”
“Elections always leave a taste of uncertainty and change; this is standard in our region,” said Genevieve Concannon of Advon Real Estate in Falls Church. “We already have colleagues who have sold homes to incoming cabinet members in November. It did seem that homebuyers were asking the predominant question: ‘what is going to happen after the election?’,” she said. “Buyers have been hamstrung all year by low inventory, she explained, but they “dethroned uncertainty by empowering themselves with strong offers on homes to help move the market forward.”
According to Concannon, in Falls Church City and Arlington, buyers have been looking in the mid-high median income ranges with far fewer luxury purchases this past November.
According to Christina Macro of Keller Williams Realty sellers have gone that extra mile to stage their homes, knowing inventory remains lean. “A great bulk of the inventory was sold within 10 days and that also speaks to the sales price to listing price ratios, which are still up over 96 percent in Northern Virginia,” said Macro. Analyzing sale-to-list percentages can help buyers and sellers get a sense of how to negotiate on the offers they make.
November 2016 Regional Home Sales Compared to November 2015:
The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® reports on November 2016 home sales activity for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
A total of 1,542 homes were sold in November 2016, an increase of 25.37 percent compared to November 2015 home sales of 1,230.
Active listings decreased 19 percent this month compared to 2015. This past month posted 3,651 active listings compared to 4,508 homes available in November 2015. The average days on market (DOM) for homes in November 2016 was 55 days, a decrease of 6.78 percent compared to the 59 DOM in November 2015.
The average home sale price decreased compared with last November, to $539,750. This is 2.57 percent below the November 2015 average price of $554,011.
The median sold price of homes this November was $470,000, which was 2 percent below November 2015’s median of $480,000.
The 1,551 new pending home sales in Northern Virginia in November marks an increase of 7.19 percent compared with 1,447 pending contracts last year in November. Total pending sales in November were down by about 3 percent, to 2,173, compared with 2,244 pending contracts in November 2015.
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