Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Average Sales Price in Greater Northern Virginia Falls Significantly

The Northern Virginia Association or Realtors (NVAR) has posted their monthly January Market Summary here is an excerpt:


Although the number of single family homes and condos sold in January was down by almost 30% when compared to 2005, the average sales price did top the 2005 January average sales price by 10.3%.

Active listings increased dramatically when comparing homes on the market in January 2005 versus January 2006, with a 392.5% increase.

Sales prices for the first month of 2006 in Greater Northern Virginia (including Prince William, Loudoun and Fauquier Counties) also followed an upward trend as did closer-in Northern Virginia region. The average sales price was up 15.22% from the January 2005 average of $417,395 to the January 2006 sales price average of $480,931.

But here is the kicker. Here is an excerpt from the December report:


Sales prices in Greater Northern Virginia (including Prince William, Loudoun and Fauquier Counties) followed the same upward trend as the closer-in region. The average sales price was up 18% from December 2004 at $525,274 for December 2005. Units sold were 20% below December 2004 levels with 3,984 units sold in December 2005. The number of active listings is up 199% over December 2004.
The average sales price for a single family home and condo in Greater Northern Virginia in December 2005 was $525,274, a month later, in January 2006 the average sales price was lower at $480,931. Therefore, the average sales price was 8.5% percent less in January 2006 then in December 2005.

Wow! Try spinnin that!

6 comments:

  1. The ratio of condos to homes sold hardy changed between those two months. Realtors how are you gonna spin these numbers?

    ReplyDelete
  2. skytrekker,

    My friend has a theory that speculators are now pulling money off the RE market and putting it into the stock market. That may work in the short term, but in the longer term, wouldn't a housing crash going to take the economy with it?

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  3. the gambling economist,

    Your numbers are inccorect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My friend has a theory that speculators are now pulling money off the RE market and putting it into the stock market.

    With the fed/government/fannie mae allowing the huge increases in paper (debt, paper, etc), you have to wonder where to put your money. Putting your savings in the bank is risky as well. If 100K buys you a condo in the year 2000, but only buys you 1/3 today, is saving money in the bank a good idea?

    My opinion is I like putting my monye in Motorola, Apple, Toyota, Cemex and other companies with CEO's that are going to work to increase the value of my savings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I posted about this in a new post. Additionally, I contacted the Realtors regarding this discrepency. Thanks to my readers for pointing this out.

    ReplyDelete