The story remains much the same as it has for the past 15 to 18 months: buyer demand across most market segments remains high, and inventory, while rising, remains low. The new report from the Virginia Association of Realtors is pretty good, and it’s linked here.
Being the broken record that I am, your micro-market will differ from the data presented in this report.
In the last 7 days in Charlottesville + Albemarle:
- 59 new listings or price reductions, average price of $589K, ranging from $135K to $3M
- 61 homes went under contract, with an average price of $552K
- 65 sold, with an average days on market of 12, ranging from 0 to 177 days
- And 35 homes either expired or were withdrawn from the market.
What I’m trying to show is that when looking at top-level data, it’s impossible to answer the questions most of my clients have:
- Can I/Should I buy a home now?
- Can I/Should I sell a home now?
Looking at the data tells at least two things:
The broad Charlottesville area real estate market is strong, and the Nelson County market is smoking hot, driven I believe, by the increase in broadband internet provided by Firefly.
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Dig into the report, and please ask questions about your specific situation.
A client just emailed:
Questions?
As I mentioned in my most recent monthly note, Calculated Risk’s blog and newsletter are outstanding, and one of the best places I learn about the national real estate market trends.
He has a few forecasts today.
“The key in 2022 will be inventory. If inventory stays extremely low, there will be more housing starts and a larger increase in prices. However, if inventory increases significantly, there will be fewer starts and less price appreciation.
Towards the end of each year I collect some housing forecasts for the following year.
For comparison, new home sales in 2021 will probably be around 800 thousand, down from 822 thousand in 2020, but up from 683 thousand in 2019.”