January Market Statistics
Fauquier's inventory of homes for sale is at it's lowest point in about 3 years! If you're a seller that's good news. The news overall, is a mixed bag this month. While inventory is low, the number of sales also dropped. At the current rate of sales it would still take about 15 months to sell off all current inventory. That's a market that's still heavily weighted to the buyer's advantage.
On the upside, the drop in sales may well be related to seasonal factors. Fewer families are typically out shopping for homes during the Christmas holiday season. And given the jump in contracts written in January, there's reason to believe February will show a substantially larger number of sales.
And, while home prices continued their steady decline, it was a less steep decline this month. Year over year the average home price fell only about 4.5% according to the MLS records. But that number looks slightly skewed to me and I'd give more weigh to the median sold price, which fell about 25% year over year.
It's interesting to note that about 30% of the sales in Fauquier County last month were cash deals. This is further evidence of the presence of investors in our market, primarily buying foreclosures.
It will be interesting to watch what develops over the next sixty days. Tomorrow President Obama makes his pitch for addressing the problems in the housing market. A large number of banks, anticipating some of what's likely to be coming have already suspended foreclosures for at least 30 days. So there may be some help in the works to reduce the overall inventory levels.
In Prince William county inventory has fallen so much that there's now only a 5 month supply. If foreclosures stop appearing on the market will there be an inventory shortage in Prince William in the next few months? Will that cause prices to at least stabilize there and maybe even rise. And, if that happens will that send some buyers looking in Fauquier County?
There are no answers to these questions yet, but these are the things to keep an eye on as we head towards the spring market.