Springfield, VA Market Report – 9/1/10

If we put 10 economists in a room to discuss the current real estate climate and the forecast for the future, we would likely hear 10 different opinions.  And if we believe everything we read and hear from the media to be true, we might wonder why we even get out of bed in the morning. Certainly the economy is still suffering and we are living in difficult times, but there is always a bright side, a silver lining to rely on.

Springfield is a microcosim of typical America and while there are an abundance of distressed properties, there is also hope for the future outlook of this area. The dog days of summer couldn’t have been more evident this year as we suffered through record numbers of 90 degree + temperatures but the intrepid souls in search of opportunity found what they were looking  for .

While the number of homes that went to settlement in August was down by 40% from last August, the number of properties that went under contract last month was up by 65% over the previous year. The issue is not the lack of inventory. There were 22% more homes available in August than in August of 2009.

Of all the homes available and under contract, nearly 1 in 3 are foreclosures or short sales.  This reflects a sad but real situation; banks are selling more homes than builders.  Homeowners opting to rent rather than sell found a lot of competition in August, but there seems to be an abundance of folks preferring to or only able to enter into a lease situation. There were 103 properties of individual owners for rent in August. By the end of the month, 61 had rented and another 14 had applications registered.

There are people in the Springfield marketplace buying and selling property. Many owners are waiting for the prices to go back up and many buyers are waiting to see if they’ll keep falling. Hopefully, with wise counsel, they won’t miss out on opportunity when it is standing right in front of them.

Market data and commentary by Charles J. Carroll, Managing Broker at Avery-Hess, Realtors.

Search for homes in the Springfield, and the rest of the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

Ashburn, VA Market Report – 8/31/10

Ashburn is still an active and hot residential real estate market. The stats and analysis are as follows:

• Homes for sale: 511 (same as in June and up from 440 one year ago)
• Homes sold: 88 (down from the tax credit induced 133 units in June and down from last year’s tax credit induced 121 units)
• Average sold price: $515,823 (a statistical spike over last month’s $444,119 and last year’s $435,855)
• Average days on market: 61 (very close to last year’s 60 days)

The increase of the trade up market, in which homeowners with equity sell and then buy a more expensive property, has resulted in a larger number of higher priced properties being sold.  More than we have seen in a long time causing the averages to go up.

Currently, we have a five-month supply of houses to purchase.  This is up from the four-months supply we had a few months ago. Remember that a six-month supply is considered a balanced market. If we can avoid another government housing stimulus, the market will have a chance to get back to “normal.”

Market report provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President, Avery-Hess, Realtors.

Search for Homes in Ashburn, VA: www.averyhess.com

Bristow, VA Market Report – 8/26/10

Bristow’s current housing supply is down to four month’s worth of inventory. Typically economists say that a six-month inventory indicates a balanced market.  This low level of inventory is keeping upward pressure on prices in the area. However, overall Bristow has been a very stable market during 2010 after a rapid rise starting in December 2008.

Below you’ll find a report of the previous month’s housing market in Bristow, Virginia:

• Homes for sale: 172  (compare to 173 in June and 202 one year ago)
• Homes sold: 43 (stable as compared to 36 last month and 50 one year ago)
• Average sold price:  $333,981 (compared to $337,901 in June and $298,935 one year ago)
• Average days on market: 27 (compared to 34 in June and 35 days one year  ago)

Everyone is still waiting to see what the housing market will do now that the two years of government stimulation has ended. My prediction for the market is that we will soon be seeing stable prices. People are buying real estate to live in, not to speculate on. This is healthy for everyone.

Market data and commentary provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President and Managing Broker.

Search for homes in Bristow, and all of the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

Silver Spring, MD Market Report – 8/25/10

In the current housing market, we are living in the “hangover” of the various government stimulus programs. Just like the “Cash for Clunkers” stimulus in the car business, these programs have distorted and changed the timing of the housing demand. This has lead to below normal results as the market returns to equilibrium. No more stimulus please!

Here are the market statistics for Silver Spring, Maryland:

• Homes for sale: 1,402 (up from 1,364 in June and up from 1,276 one year ago)
• Homes Sold: 170 (down from the stimulus induced 288 last month, and down from last year’s stimulus induced 272)
• Average sold price: $353,433 (down from $364,427 last month, and up from $343,655 one year ago)
• Average days on market: 64 (pretty stable most of this year but down from 99 days one year ago)

While the weather is still warm, hop in the car or take Metro to the Silver Spring and spend a relaxing evening enjoying the many shops and various ethnic restaurants – including African, Burmese, Ethiopian, Italian, Mexican, Jamaican to name a few – in the newly revitalized City Place.  You might even dip your feet in the fountain to cool off!  There are many weekends that you can enjoy music, dance and sample new foods at one of the ethnic festivals held in the area. Hope to see you there!

Market data and commentary provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President and Managing Broker.

Search for homes in Silver Spring, and all of the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

Germantown, MD Market Report – 8/18/10

Below are the statistics and analysis for the Germantown, MD market:

• Homes for sale: 536 (up from 517 in June. Up from 442 one year ago)
• Homes sold:  86 (down from 128 in June and down from 117 one year ago)
• Average sales price: $284,660 (up from $281,345 in June 2010 and about the same as $283,808 one year ago)
• Average days on market: 52 (up a bit from 40 last month, but still way under 102 days a year ago)

So what do the statistics tell us? Today, we have more inventory at close to the same average sales price as we did a year ago, but it is selling faster. However, due to the race to close in the second quarter, we are currently seeing fewer transactions.

While prices are stable and time on the market is still reasonable, we are without a doubt still feeling the after effects of the tax credit deadline. In order for buyers to get the tax credit before it expired, some third quarter sales were “pulled” into the second quarter.  The “Trade Up” market, where existing homeowners have equity and want to buy a more expensive house, has started and it will also pull prices up as higher priced sales occur.

Since we have a stabilized unemployment rate and low interest rates what I expect to happen is similar to what happened in the car business after “Cash for Clunkers” ran out; the market will return to equilibrium over a three to six month period.

Commentary and analysis provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President.

Gaithersburg, MD Market Report 8/12/10

Since we are talking about Gaithersburg, I’d like to start out by reminding everyone that the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair starts on Friday August 13th and runs for ten days. This is one event that everyone loves to attend!

OK, Let’s get on to the statistics for Gaithersburg.

• Homes for sale: 891 (up from 878 in June and up from May’s 867, down from 907 in April and down from 907 one year  ago)
• Homes Sold: 160 (down from 205 in June, down from 210 sales one year ago)
• Average sold price: $331,238 (up from $329,155 in June, up from $301,689 one year  ago)
• Average days on market: 43 (very stable throughout 2010 but down from 113 days from one year ago)

Inventory is pretty stable, the number of sales per month is down but the time it takes to sell is still falling. These stats say that the market is increasing in strength. But I think that new contracts being written may be slowing some so we may be going into a leveling or small decline in the near term. This is to be expected after such a great rise in prices over the past 18 months.

Commentary and analysis provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President.