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Will the Spring make our housing depression go away?
The housing market has seen extremely low inventory of homes for sale for the past 2 months. It seems like things are finally turning around and there are more homes on the market than the previous month. Home value is also still on the rise. Spring, it seems, will help to make the housing depression go away.
Here is March’s market update looking at the latest statistics from MarketStats by Showing Time. It includes a good hard look at the data, what agents are seeing, and what it all means to you.
Statistics
Homes that Sold in November
The average sale price for a home in Northern Virginia is $666,457. This is an 10% increase from the same time last year and almost a 2.8% increase from the previous month.
At the end of February 2022, there were 2,269 homes sold. This is over an 11% increase from last year and a whopping 16% increase from January sales.
The total value of homes sold amounted to $1,478,052,519. This is down 3.5% from last year and up 17% from the previous month.
The average number of days it took to sell a home went up from 28 days to 21 days. This is the same amount of time from last year and 25% less time than last month.
The average price per square foot went up about 4% – from $307 per square foot in January to $319 per square foot in February. This is also a 10% increase in value from last year.
Homes that Came on the Market
By the end of February, there were 1,308 homes up for sale. This 5% more than the previous month and 38% less than last year this time.
The month’s supply for February is now at 0.58. This is about the same as it was last month at 0.64. This figure represents how many months it would take to sell all the current homes now on the market. Most consider a balanced market, where buyers and sellers of homes are on the same playing field, to be about 3 months supply. This figure is significantly low but keep in mind that this time of year is traditionally slow. February 2021 months supply was .
Mortgage Interest Rates
According to Housing Wire, higher mortgage interest rates do affect the housing market. Some buyers, especially investors, will want to take advantage of the rates before they get even higher. Still, some buyers will no longer be able to afford to buy a new home if the rates become too high.
“The mortgage company Freddie Mac reports the 30-year-fixed rate averaged 3.85 percent last week. That’s up .11 percent from the week before.”, according to the abc23 website. The gradual increase in mortgage interest rates are now certain so buyers have limited time left to take advantage of locking in good rates.
What Agents are Seeing
While January and February are typically slow months in the real estate market, the good news is that activity is picking up. There are more homes coming on the market each day and buyers are still facing waiving contingencies and above asking prices. This is expected to last at least a few more months. There also seems to be an increase demand for rentals as those prices are rising as well.
What Does This All Mean?
The data highlights the current lack of inventory and an increase in the value of homes. It remains a sellers market and is projected to remain through Spring, at least. For now, Sellers still have the advantage and Buyers are still trying to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates.
Bottom Line
The Spring, it seems, will help to make the housing depression go away. While inventory is low, the market still favors the Sellers. The forecast is for more of the same through Spring 2022.
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Questions/Concerns? Please contact me.
Also feel free to compare this update with last month’s Market Update – February 2022
