After a lackluster 2011, Central Virginia’s housing market appears to be on the cusp of a post-recession rebound, according to figures released recently from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors and local agents.
Brad Conner is president of CAAR and an associate broker with local real estate firm Montague Miller.
“I think we’re at the point where the sales are there — I think you can say from an actual home sales standpoint, we’ve kind of hit the bottom,” Conner said.
According to CAAR’s report on the first quarter of 2012, home sales rose 9.2 percent, compared with the same period last year, while median sales prices fell 2.7 percent.
In 2011, overall home sales, median sales prices and the average number of homes in the local market’s inventory declined, according to the organization’s year-end report, which was published in January.
CAAR said 463 homes were sold between Jan. 1 and March 31; that’s 39 more homes than were sold for the first three months of 2011. Homes also sold faster this quarter by an average of eight days, down from 175 days on the market to 167 days. And CAAR said the average sale price in the region dropped 7.5 percent from $302,993 to $280,244 between the quarters.
“We’re continuing to see positive signs with the data that we’re able to extract,” Ramey said. “I think the most positive thing is that our inventory levels are at the lowest level than we’ve had in previous years,” said CAAR vice president Denise Ramey.
Conner said it’s also notable that the Charlottesville market isn’t suffering under the weight of significant shadow inventory, the industry’s term for foreclosed homes that haven’t yet been listed for sale on the market. About 6 percent of local home listings were considered distressed in the first-quarter report, versus 8 percent at this point last year.
Although the news looks good, Conner cautioned it’s just too soon to declare that the worst is over.
“I myself would like to see another good strong second quarter,” he said. “We’re not really back. We’ve still got a lot of room to make up from where we were … but the positive thing I would probably tell people is that now we’ve hit bottom.”
Although the responsibility for making a good home sale or purchase decision still rests with the individual, right now, “You can buy something now and feel confident,” he added.
Jim Duncan is a partner in Charlottesville-based Nest Realty. He also runs local real estate blog Realcentralva.com. Duncan agreed that although there are some inconsistencies when looking at the numbers alone, there are also modest but clear and favorable indicators that the market overall is improving.
“[What] we’re seeing in the trenches … is that a lot of homes are going under contract swiftly with multiple offers, and you’re also seeing homes that should be selling swiftly and are not. [But] for the most part, we’re seeing increased buyer activity.”
And for the time being, all three unequivocally agreed that it’ll remain a buyer’s market.
“The affordability of homes is at an all-time high,” Ramey said. “There’s definitely incentive for buyers to not rent and to buy … On the selling side, I’m still of the opinion that if you don’t have to sell, my advice to my sellers is wait until we continue to see price appreciation.”
Duncan agreed. “Any buyer or seller … in this market really needs to do their due diligence on their perspective in the market,” he said.
Source: http://www2.dailyprogress.com/business/2012/apr/22/2/cbj-real-estate-market-may-be-improving-ar-1857674/
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