Year-to-date home sales in Northern Virginia indicate sellers are enjoying quicker sales and prices up about 3 percent from last year at the same time.
According to MarketStats by ShowingTime, 30,133 units have sold in Northern Virginia in 2019, up about 1 percent compared to sales through September 2018.
One of the most notable changes from 2018 is days on market. Through September 2018, year-to-date average days on market for homes was 55 days. As of September 2019, average days on market this year is just 29 days—a 47 percent drop from the same period last year.
The average list price for sold homes in Northern Virginia so far this year is $550,222, compared to $536,441 at the same time in 2018.
One driver in these Northern Virginia numbers is real estate activity in Arlington, where Amazon is slated to hire thousands of employees over the next few years.
Though the number of units sold in Arlington this year is down about 7 percent from last year at this point, the average sold price for Arlington homes is up nearly 6.5 percent over the same period. Days on market in Arlington also has plummeted, with the average this year to date at just 30 days—down 54 percent from January through September 2018. On top of that, of the 2,172 units sold in Arlington this year, more than half have sold in 10 days or less—a trend reflected in the entire region, with 15,871 of 30,133 homes in Northern Virginia selling in 10 days or less.
Alexandria City’s average days on market has dropped nearly 60 percent compared to the same time last year—from 53 to just 22 days. Fairfax County has seen average days on market drop from 51 to 27 over the same period. And Falls Church City—though sales only number 155 so far this year (up 4 percent from last year at this time)—average days on market there has also dropped from 66 to 37 (a 44 percent drop).
What does that mean for homebuyers in the area? According to MarketStates, homes in Northern Virginia, on average, are selling for 98.7 percent of their original list price. That means sellers are landing pretty close to market value for their original list prices, and as such, buyers are quickly clamoring to get those contracts in.
For sellers it indicates that pricing property correctly can be a driving force behind an early and possibly competitive scenario.
Christopher Prawdzik, an Accredited Staging Partner® Real Estate Agent, and his wife Angela Logomasini are licensed Realtors® with Samson Properties in Alexandria. Operating as D.C. Region Real Estate, they serve the Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland real estate market and offer comprehensive real estate services, including 4½% full-service listings.
© 2019 D.C. Region Real Estate
