2008 in Review – Arlington County Home Sales – Stats, Stats and more Stats…
January 8th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Condos, Home Buying, Home Selling, Market Stats
As we sit her amidst possibly the greatest financial crisis in modern times, we do tend to think “how could this possibly be the best time to buy or sell real estate?” (I’m sure that’s the first thought you have – ok, well maybe not the first, but if it’s on the list at all – keep reading…)
I read a blog post of a colleague of mine a few days ago and a reader absolutely slammed the real estate agents/industry for the mess we’re in – as one colleague so nicely put it, most of us are not representing misguided investors who are looking (or WERE looking) for a quick buck in flipping 
and/or rehabbinb and reselling properties. Most of us were working with people who were looking for homes to live in. Most of us were making sure that they were working with reputable lenders and that they understood what they were getting into – what the tax benefits are of home ownership, and what the risks are. We were (and still are) educating our buyers and sellers about the times and hopefully setting correct expectations… OK, I digress a bit – but a word for the readers, people will always need to buy and sell homes when they outgrow them, or they need less space; when they change jobs, or a family situation changes. There are a multitude of reasons people need to move – but it happens every day – and I will be there to represent at least some of them and I am committed to doing my job well and giving my clients the best representation possible.
OK – on to why you’re here – STATS… first, let me start off with December numbers – some good, some not so good – here’s how the month looked:
In order to provide some perspective, I keep running tallies and here are the stats for the entire year for both Condos and Single Family Homes:
What I see from these is that the condo market seems off – active listings are holding, but contract writing was down – settlements were up from November, but I think that’s a trickle down of the rate and availability of money issues that we saw in the October/November time frame. After all, more condos settled in December than since August.
For the Single Family market, I see somewhat of a trail off in contract writing, but solds are holding – fewer than in the past few months, but not dramatically so…
In any event, I decided I wanted to look at some trending – 2008 as it compared with 2007 – so here are what I think are the most interesting tables of all: the Condo market and the Single Family market broken down by sales, Average Selling prices and Days on Market in 6 month chunks.
Look at the unit trail-off in 2008 – we had a total of 1700 units sell in 2007 and only 1,110 units in 2008. WOW – that’s a 53% decline in unit sales – however, I would say overall, prices are holding; up in the 2nd half of 2007, down in the 1st half of 2008 and back up again in the 2nd half of 2008 – Days on Market have also increased on average. This is interesting to me because being IN the market, it doesn’t feel this way. It could be a result of financing restrictions, fha restrictions on certain buildings/complexes, etc…
Now, for Single Family:
We see the same drop off in unit sales – down from a total of 1,034 in 2007 to just 851 in 2008 for a 21% decline. Average Selling Prices have declined as well – but days on the market have held pretty steady. These are very interesting numbers to look at.
I try not to get too bogged down with numbers and here’s the bottom line I see.
1) Houses are still SELLING – Buyers are still buying
2) FEWER houses and condos are selling this year than last – there are fewer buyers in the market
3) IF you decided you need to or would like to sell your home – you can still expect the marketing time to AVERAGE 60–80 days, depending on what and where you’re trying to sell
4) Interest rates are at record lows – this will begin to bring buyers into the market.
Have we reached bottom? Who knows – depends on who you listen to. We have some exciting changes in store for us and a sort of new beginning to look forward to when our new president takes office on January 20th.
If you’d like to discuss your options, whether buying or selling, I would be honored to receive your inquiry and look forward to working with you on a successful (and pleasant) real estate transaction!
Happy Thursday
Jennifer
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Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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