Va. pending home sales, prices rose in September

Pending home sales in Virginia rose in September — increasing almost 14% from September 2023 — suggesting more buyers are entering the market, according to Virginia Realtors data released Tuesday.

Last month, 8,065 homes sold in Virginia, a less than 1% increase from September 2023. Although closed sales remained relatively flat year-over-year, pending sales rose, as 8,119 homes went under contract in September, up 978 pending sales from last year — a 13.9% jump.

“This is the largest increase in pending sales Virginia’s housing market has had in more than three years and was likely driven by last month’s drop in mortgage rates,” Virginia Realtors Chief Economist Ryan Price said in a statement. “When rates dropped to near 6%, more buyers decided to get off the sidelines.”

For the week ending Sept. 5, the weekly average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.35%, according to Freddie Mac data. The following week, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.2%. For the week ending Sept. 19, the average rate was 6.09%, and the weekly average rate for the week ending Sept. 26 was 6.08%.

In October, though, mortgage rates have risen again, according to Freddie Mac data. For the week ending Thursday, the weekly average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.54%, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous week. The four-week average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.36%.

The statewide median sales price also rose year-over-year in September. Last month, it stood at $419,200, up more than $39,000 — an increase of 10.3% — from September 2023. That’s the largest dollar increase in the statewide median sales price since spring 2022, according to Virginia Realtors.

Homes spent a median of 14 days on the market last month, up from the 10-day median reported in September 2023.

The Virginia market had 19,764 active listings last month, up by about 3,100 listings from the same month last year, representing an 18.9% increase. There were 11,378 new listings in September, up 772 listings, or 7.3%, from September 2023.

“Supply conditions remain tight in Virginia but are improving,” Tom Campbell with Fathom Realty, Virginia Realtors’ 2024 president, said in a statement. “Active listings have outpaced 2023 levels every month so far this year.”

The month’s supply of inventory (MSI) — a measure of how many months there would be homes on the market if no new inventory were added — stood at 2.3, up from September 2023’s MSI of 2.1.

Based in Glen Allen, Virginia Realtors represents about 36,000 Realtors and is the state’s largest trade association.