Stafford County, VA Market Report – 11/14/11

New listings in our market place have just dropped to a year low!  They have dropped 19.09% since this same time last year. What does this mean?

This means that we need more good inventory on the market!  Houses that are priced right, show well and are in good locations are selling!

For example, our office just listed a beautiful home for $269,900 (which was on the higher end of an acceptable list price for the property) and it went under contract in 48 hours!  The average sales price to original list price percentage has actually increased by 1.78% to 95.3%, which is most likely due to the lack of inventory.  Remember, it has a lot to do with supply and demand!

With interest rates as low as they are, Buyers are out there!  With the lack of inventory, Buyers are having to act quicker and make better offers to secure the home of their dreams!  If inventory stays as low as it is and more Buyers continue to enter the market place, you will begin to see prices stop dropping, begin to even out, and eventually with the same scenario, begin to increase!

Here are other statistics for the month of October:

STAFFORD  MARKET STATS

Closed sales were up, new pending sales were way up, detached and attached units sold increased and days on market decreased by 10%!  These are all important and exciting statistics!

And please don’t let the holidays fool you!  Our market is BUSY and interesting things are happening around here!  If you are considering selling, it is time to get off the fence and consult a professional to give you advice on your individual situation!  If you are a Buyer, take advantage of these historically low interest rates and get on out there.   Now is a great time to start looking for a new place to call home!

Commentary and market stats provided by Amy Cherry-Taylor, Business Manager, Stafford Regional Office.

Search for Home in Stafford County: www.averyhess.com

Stafford County, VA Market Report – 9/14/11

Things are very interesting in Stafford right now.  The latest statistics are very indicative of what we as Realtors were feeling in Stafford last month.

It is very interesting to me that we are seeing these statistics as rates have been hovering around historic lows and there are lots of Buyers in the market place.  It seems as though many people are waiting for exactly the right house to come on the market and just haven’t been able to find what they are looking for.

Our inventories are so low, not just in Stafford, but in the surrounding areas as well that there are not a lot of new houses for people to look at, at any given time.

I think the last couple of weeks have been tough for people who have been considering putting their homes on the market!  No one really wants to do that during an earthquake, hurricane or even the first week or two of school if they can help it!   Please read on for the latest stats:

One of the only positives you can take away from the latest numbers are the average sales price to list price ratio.  Over the last year this number has continued to slowly creep up.  That is a great sign for Sellers who price their home well!

Don’t let these numbers discourage you!  We are still way better off than many parts of the country and our market is feeling much better overall!  New inventory will really help our market.  If you are considering selling your home, make sure and speak to a good, professional Realtor.  You may be surprised that now is a good time for you to sell!

Stafford County, VA Market Report – 7/11/11

This time last year, first time homebuyers were frantically trying to make sure they could close on their home of choice by June 30th so that they could make sure and receive their first time homebuyer tax credit!

Houses were selling left and right, prices were escalating in some instances and the market was extremely busy!

Flash forward to now and in Stafford County you are seeing houses that are priced right to sell!  You are seeing buyers having to make decisions so they don’t lose out on the home that they love!  You are seeing low rates and foreclosures dwindling, but short sales are continuing to be a large part of the market.

The statistics between last year and this year are hard to decipher due to that tax credit.  But considering there was the incentive last year, our numbers are quite good!

Closed sales were up in May and new pending sales were up enormously!  That is huge considering what we discussed above.

Unfortunately, average sold prices were down slightly as well as median sales price.  While that was the case, total sold dollar volume was still up.

What does this mean for you?  This means that if you are a seller looking to put your home on the market, go for it!  New listings are down and the market needs more good homes!  If you are a buyer, take advantage of the low prices and amazing interest rates!  Our market is busy and this is a great time to enter the market place!

Commentary and market stats provided by Amy Cherry-Taylor, Business Manager, Stafford Regional Office.

Search for Home in Stafford County: www.averyhess.com

Stafford County, VA Market Report – 4/27/11

Our spring market in the Fredericksburg region has been much hotter than our weather!  Buyers are out taking advantage of great interest rates and housing prices.  Sellers are able to take advantage of low housing inventories and somewhat stable prices.  We experienced a very busy start to our year that has been very steady up until the beginning of April.  We had a little lull the first part of this month, most likely due to the worry of the government shutting down, but we are now starting to pick back up again!

Stafford County has some pretty interesting statistics going on.  The last quarter of 2010 we ended with an overall slight median sales price increase.  So far March of 2011 compared to March 2010 the median sales price has decreased -7.8% to a price of $212,000.  New listings are down -29.2% which is a huge decrease.

There really is no rhyme or reason to these numbers considering the amount of sales occurring.  Closed sales are up 14.7% from this time last year and pending sales are up 12.2%!  That is good news and shows that what we are feeling is in fact happening.  Please read on for more statistics:

STAFFORD MARKET STATS

No matter what these numbers say, Stafford is located in a fantastic area between Washington D.C. and Richmond.  We always have a stronger market than other parts of the country due to our proximity to the nation’s capital.  This area has so much to offer that people will continue to want to make Stafford County their home for many years to come!

Commentary and market stats provided by Amy Cherry-Taylor, Business Manager, Stafford Regional Office.

Search for Home in Stafford County: www.averyhess.com

Stafford County, VA Market Report – 5/27/10

Things are changing here in Stafford County!  I have some pretty promising information to share with you!  The real estate statistics in April were great compared to this same time last year!  Once everyone recovered from the blizzard, people had a lot of making up to do in March and April!  Since the deadline for qualifying for the tax credit was April 30th, many people made the most of the opporuntity and it showed in our market activity.

As you can see, inventory is continuing to decline.  Once the inventory starts to shrink, days on market go down, percent of original sales price received at sale increases and the market becomes more competitive.  This is definitely the environment we are in now.  The market slowed down just a tad bit at the beginning of May, but we do feel like we are starting to see a momentum shift back in the right direction!  We hope this trend continues and look forward to a nice, active summer market!

Market data and commentary by Amy Cherry Taylor, Business Manager and Realtor at Avery-Hess, Realtors.

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

Stafford, VA Market Report – 2/24/10

January was quite a month…of snow that is! It’ll be challenging to compare last month to January 2009 or to even guage how this market is progressing so far this year because of the extreme weather we’ve had.  We received three weekends of snow that made it very difficult for prospective buyers to view available inventory.  On the other hand, the weather also made it hard for sellers to list their homes. New listings and pending sales were not what we had expected, however days on market, available inventory, and percent of original list price received at sale were all very promising.

The following table shows statistics for January 2009 in Stafford, Virginia.

One of the most impressive changes is the 9% increase in the amount sellers are receiving for their offers.  Buyers are having to give much better offers to even compete in multiple offer situations to secure the home of their dreams.  Inventory has decreased substantially, which makes homes that are in good locations, in good condition, and priced well highly sought after items.  It will be interesting to see if the decreased inventory level is due to the weather or if our inventory has actually shrunk that much.  Stay tuned.

Market data and commentary by Amy Cherry Taylor, Business Manager and Realtor at Avery-Hess, Realtors.

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