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Northern Virginia Home Sales Close 2015 with an Overall 9 Percent Increase; December’s Average, Median Prices Dip Slightly Compared to 2014; Pending Contracts are Strong: Overall, the 2015 Market was Favorable

Fairfax –“Considering we had a year with new closing laws, a slower than usual market in the summer, a strong fall market, and sometimes a flurry of bidding wars, our buyers and sellers had a great 2015,” said Virgil Frizzell, 2016 Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® chairman of the board. “Our region could always benefit from affordably priced new homes that will help our renter population make the move to homeownership.” Frizzell pointed out that some millennials are now better prepared to qualify for homes, and their employment has been stable.

According to NVAR CEO Ryan T. Conrad, “Our region’s cyclical economic recovery continues. In our Northern Virginia footprint, we saw annual 2015 gains in average and median home prices. In addition, most months offered improved inventory. Our region’s sales pace last year reflected that there was homebuyer confidence. Considering our early cold winter and the introduction of new closing laws, 2015 ended with a stable and healthy local market.”

Serious homebuyers will understand that their buying power will be strongest in the early part of the year, Conrad explained, considering expected 2016 Federal Reserve rate hikes.

“As for 2016, we think [home sale] units will be up in the low single-digit range as will average prices,” said Steve Murray of REAL Trends, referring to the national housing market. “We are expecting total housing units up 2.0-4.0 percent and prices about the same.”

“Serious homebuyers will understand that their buying power will be strongest in the early part of the year, Conrad explained, considering expected 2016 Federal Reserve rate hikes.”

December 2015 Regional Home Sales Compared to December 2014: Northern Virginia

The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® reports on December 2015 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 1,623 homes sold in December 2015, a 1.69 percent increase over December 2014 home sales of 1,596.

Active listings continued to show an increase this month compared with 2014. Listings are up by 7.36 percent over last year, with 3,470 active listings in December, compared with 3,232 homes available in December 2014. Homes took only slightly longer to sell this December than last year. The average days on market (DOM) for homes in December 2015 was 66 days, just 1.54 percent longer than the 65 DOM in December 2014.

The average home sale price fell slightly this December, to $551,451. This is a 3.71 percent decrease compared to December 2014, when the average price was $572,712.

The median sold price of homes was virtually unchanged in December at $479,900.This was 0.02 percent below the December 2014 median price of $480,000.

The 1,226 new pending home sales in Northern Virginia in December was an increase of 10.05 percent compared with 1,114 pending contracts in December of last year.

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The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® serves as The Voice For Real Estate in Northern Virginia and provides a variety of services to its members including educational opportunities, professional standards enforcement, market statistics, legislative reviews, issues lobbying, multiple listing and lockbox services, and more. The purpose of NVAR is to enhance the ability and opportunity of its members to conduct their business successfully, to promote member professional competency, to maintain members’ adherence to the Realtor® Code of Ethics and to promote the preservation of the right to own, transfer and use real property. NVAR has grown to about 11,000 Realtors® who carry out a real estate industry in a community of more than 2 million residents. Visit NVAR online at www.nvar.com, www.realtorschool.com, and www.realtorshop.com. Contact the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® at 703.207.3200. The NVAR headquarters is located at: 8407 Pennell Street, Fairfax, VA 22031, with a second service center located in Herndon.

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