Virginia’s housing market gave off mixed signals in May. Closings were higher than last year, but pending sales were flat, according to Virginia Realtors data released June 25.
In May, 10,715 homes sold in Virginia, up 423 sales or just over 4% from the same month last year.
“While sales activity has outpaced last year four out of five months so far in 2024, this level of sales activity is still below average,” said 2024 Virginia Realtors President Tom Campbell in a statement.
More than half of municipalities in the state had an increase in sales compared with May 2023. The markets with the strongest sales growth were in the Shenandoah and Roanoke valleys and in south Central Virginia.
The Virginia market had 17,712 active listings at the end of May, an increase of nearly 28% from the same time last year.
There were 14,056 new listings, up 15.8% from May 2023. New listings increased 5.6% between May and April, a typical seasonal increase, according to Virginia Realtors.
Chart courtesy Virginia Realtors.
Homes in Virginia stayed on the market for a median of seven days in May, one day longer than reported in May 2023.
“The supply of listings remains tight compared to the number of sales and the demand in the market, but there has been some notable improvement to the number of active listings,” Ryan Price, chief economist for Virginia Realtors, said in a statement.
The statewide median sales price in May was $425,000. That’s $15,000 higher than the median price last May, a 3.7% increase.
The statewide housing market had 9,729 pending sales last month, one fewer than May 2023.
Mortgage rates decreased for the fourth consecutive week, in the week ending June 20, according to Freddie Mac data. For that week, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.87%.
“We’re still looking at a ‘sellers’ market’ here in the commonwealth,” Virginia Realtors CEO Terrie Suit said. “Houses are selling quickly, and in nearly all price brackets, sellers continue getting more money than the asking price.”
Hampton Roads home sales in May remained steady year-over-year, but inventory climbed, breaching 4,000 homes for sale, according to Real Estate Information Network (REIN) data released Monday.
Last month, 2,498 homes sold in Hampton Roads, up from 2,189 in April and equal to homes sold in May 2023. Pending sales totaled 2,546, down from 2,569 in April and from 2,856 in May 2023.
The region had 4,264 active listings in May, the first time the number of homes listed in REIN’s service has topped 4,000 since October 2022. Active listings in April totaled 3,837 and stood at 3,217 in May 2023 — making May’s number of active listings a year-over-year increase of 32.5%.
The month’s supply of inventory (MSI) — a measure of how many months of inventory would remain if no new homes were added to the market — was 2.07, up from 1.87 in April and up from 1.37 a year ago.
The median sales price in the region was $352,392, a record for a single month, according to REIN. It was up 3.6% from the MSP of $340,000 recorded in April and up 5% from the $335,000 recorded in May 2023, when homes sold also totaled 2,498.
“Obviously, when prices grow at this rate, it becomes challenging for many potential buyers, whose income isn’t keeping pace with the other increases they’re facing,” Gary Lundholm with The Real Estate Group, president of REIN’s board of directors, said in a statement. “Ensuring there is enough available, and enough affordable housing for everyone, is a concern for us all.”
Homes spent a median of 15 days on market last month, up one day from the April median of 14 days and up from the 11-day median reported in May 2023.
Founded in 1969, REIN is a regional multiple listing service that covers an area stretching from Williamsburg east to Virginia Beach and south across the North Carolina border.
John Chandler has been promoted to president and principal broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices RW Towne Property Management, the Norfolk-based real estate firm announced Wednesday.
Chandler was previously director of facilities and compliance for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices RW Towne Realty and chief operating officer of the property management division, according to his LinkedIn profile. He succeeds his sister-in-law, Lisa Chandler, who announced her retirement in October 2023.
“We are thrilled to announce John’s well-deserved promotion to president and principal broker. His experience and leadership and unwavering dedication to excellence will propel our company’s progress,” J. Van Rose Jr., Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices RW Towne’s executive chairman of the board, said in a statement.
Chandler helped coordinate the 2019 merger of Rose & Womble Realty with Chandler Realty and Chandler Property Management and the 2023 merger of Rose & Womble Realty, Rose & Womble Chandler Property Management and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. The combined firm is backed by TowneBank and is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway luxury real estate franchise network. Its property management portfolio has more than 2,700 units and 16 property managers in Eastern Virginia, according to a news release.
Chandler entered the real estate industry after 23 years in the U.S. Navy, which he retired from as a captain. In 2005, he joined the real estate firm his mother founded in 1974, Nancy Chandler Associates, as chief operating officer. In 2017, the firm rebranded as Chandler Realty.
In 2019, Chandler became director of facilities and compliance for Rose & Womble Realty and chief operating officer of Rose & Womble and Chandler Property Management, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Military Institute and a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College. He serves on the Real Estate Information Network’s board of directors, which governs the multiple listing service for the Hampton Roads region.
Since 2020, Winchester has gained traction as Virginia’s fastest-growing metro area due to an outflow of remote workers from the Washington, D.C., region to the exurbs. That’s squeezing the local housing market and boosting prices — as well as causing worry among the region’s leaders.
“Living in Winchester versus D.C. is very attractive for federal workers if you only need to go into the office occasionally,” says Hamilton Lombard, a demographer at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, citing Winchester’s lower cost of living.
Between 2020 and 2023, the Winchester and Frederick County metro area saw a 4.6% rise in population, or an increase of 5,554 people, outpacing every other metro area in Virginia for the same period, Lombard says.
“Most years, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William are the top source for people moving into the Winchester area,” contributing about 4,000 new Winchester-Frederick residents, based on data from tax returns, he notes.
But the area’s residential reach is expanding as “between a third and a half of all work in the Winchester area is now being done remotely, which is above the national average,” Lombard says.
Jeff Buettner, executive director of the Winchester Economic Development Authority, says the city isn’t actively recruiting remote workers. Neither is neighboring Frederick County, according to Patrick Barker, executive director of the county’s economic development authority.
Still, new residents have been arriving since the pandemic, responding to rising house prices in their home regions, says Blue Ridge Association of Realtors CEO Rob Wigton. But prices in Winchester and surrounding localities also have risen. Over the past year, the median price of an area single-family home rose 10.2%, and in March, the median selling price was $437,500.
High interest rates also are keeping the supply of available homes tight, says Winchester real estate broker Meghan Pachas.
However, new construction may ease that demand. Frederick has seen a lot of new builds, says Wigton, adding that there are some people who aren’t pleased with the growth. He disagrees.
“If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Wigton says. “It’s just a matter of growing smartly.”
Winchester will soon see an uptick in construction of new housing, Buettner says. City leaders are looking ahead, planning for future stormwater, road and school needs.
“We’re going to work on the infrastructure before it happens, as opposed to being reactionary after the fact,” Buettner says.
Virginia’s housing market is heating up this spring, with April sales increasing 14.1% from sales in April 2023, according to Virginia Realtors data released Tuesday.
Last month, 9,416 homes sold in Virginia, up 1,164 sales from the same month last year. Sales activity in Virginia has been trending up in 2024, except for a dip in March, when sales dropped 7.3% from March 2023.
April’s year-over-year increase in closed sales is the largest increase in monthly sales that the Virginia market has had in nearly three years, although the 10-year average for closed sales in April is around 10,500 sales, according to Virginia Realtors.
Although 66% of municipalities in the state had an increase in sales compared with April 2023, the markets with the strongest sales growth were in the Shenandoah Valley, particularly the Winchester region, and the Roanoke Valley.
The Virginia market had 16,047 active listings at the end of April, an 18.1% increase from the same time last year. April was the fifth consecutive month that the number of active listings grew, according to Virginia Realtors.
There were 13,309 new listings, up 19.1% from April 2023. The jump in new listings is the largest increase in about three years, according to Virginia Realtors.
Homes in Virginia stayed on the market for a median of seven days in April, the same median reported in April 2023.
Home prices also rose in April. The statewide median sales price last month was $416,548, up $25,548, or 6.5%, from April 2023. Although listings and sales have increased, pent-up demand is putting pressure on home prices, according to Virginia Realtors.
“Rising prices are likely to continue as demand for housing is stronger than the increase in supply of listings,” Ryan Price, Virginia Realtors’ chief economist, said in a statement.
The statewide housing market had 9,819 pending sales last month, up 710 pending sales, or 7.8%, from April 2023.
Mortgage rates decreased for the second consecutive week in the week ending May 16, according to Freddie Mac data. For that week, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was 7.02%, down 0.07 percentage points from the previous week. The four-week average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.13%.
“Mortgage rates have been trending down a little in May but are still higher than when 2024 began,” Virginia Realtors CEO Terrie Suit said in a statement. “Though rates have continued to hover above the 7% mark for a 30-year fixed, there are some signs consumers are adjusting to the higher interest rates.”
Northern Virginia home sales in April rose 13.5% from April 2023, the region’s first double-digit growth in sales since November 2021, according to data the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors released Tuesday.
In April, the region had 1,623 closed sales, up year-over-year and up 36% from the 1,191 homes sold in March, reflecting a spring market uptick. In November 2021, the last time NVAR recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in home sales, 2,124 homes sold in Northern Virginia, which was an 11% increase from November 2020.
“As April and February’s market data show, we are experiencing a thawing in our region, as we break through post-pandemic market conditions and see a little more inventory and inspired homebuyers,” Rob Carney with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, an NVAR board officer, said in a statement. “Consumers are accepting that higher mortgage rates are a reality for now and are choosing to sell and buy anyway.”
New pending sales last month totaled 1,843 units, up 5.3% from April 2023. Active listings in the region numbered about 1,830 units last month, up 9.7% from the same month last year, while new listings reached 1,504 units, down roughly 4% from the 1,565 new listings recorded in April 2023.
Houses sold quickly last month, remaining on the market an average of 14 days, down from 18 days in April 2023 and from 16 days in March. 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 1.1 months, up slightly from April 2023’s MSI of 1.0 and March’s MSI of 0.9.
High demand and low supply have helped drive increases in home prices, despite higher mortgage rates, according to NVAR. The median sold price last month was $751,000, up 8.8% compared with April 2023 and up about 2.88% from the median sold price in March. The total sold volume in April was close to $1.39 billion, up 22.6% from April 2023.
NVAR reports home sales activity for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
Home sales across Hampton Roads were up in April, as the region also racked up near-record median sales prices, the Real Estate Information Network (REIN) reported Friday.
There were 2,189 settled sales for the month, up from 2,057 in March and 2,053 in April 2023, according to REIN. There were 2,569 pending sales, compared with 2,317 in March and 2,363 in April 2023.
The median sales price of homes sold regionally in April was $344,000, the second-highest MSP on record in the region and up from $332,000 in March and $320,000 in April 2023.
“Even though mortgage rates remain around 7%, consumers are willing to spend what they need to spend in order to get the home they want,” Gary Lundholm of the Real Estate Group and president of REIN’s board said in a news release announcing the data.
There were 3,837 active listings in April, compared with 3,574 in March and 3,156 in April 2023. The number of median days homes stayed on the market in April was 14, down from 18 in March, but up from 12 in April 2023, according to REIN.
The number of active listings was 3,837, up compared with 3,574 in March and up from 3,156 in April 2023.
“The combination of increased sales and increased inventory is a positive development for the local market,” Lundholm said.
REIN is the multiple listing service in Hampton Roads and has about 9,000 members. It serves an area that stretches from Williamsburg and Gloucester down to Edenton, North Carolina.
The pace of sales in Virginia’s housing market slowed in March, declining 7.3% over March 2023, according to data released by Virginia Realtors Tuesday.
In March, there were 8,075 home sales in the commonwealth, 634 fewer sales than this time last year. At the end of the month, there were 14,950 homes on the market, up by about 1,400 additional listings from a year ago — a 10.3% increase.
“This is the fourth consecutive month that the overall inventory of active listings has expanded in Virginia, which is welcome news for buyers in this competitive market,” Tom Campbell, Virginia Realtors’ 2024 president, said in a statement.
New listings decreased in March, totaling 11,470, which is 35 fewer than in March 2023. There were about 17.9% more new listings in March compared to February. However, this increase is lower than the typical February-to-March spring inventory bump.
“This pivot to a slowdown we’re seeing could signal hesitation with sellers who are watching interest rates just as closely as buyers,” Virginia Realtors CEO Terrie Suit said in a statement.
About 65% of cities and counties around Virginia had more listings on the market in March than during that time last year. The Harrisonburg and Lynchburg regions had the sharpest increase in active listings in March. The biggest drop in active listings occurred in the Northern Virginia and Williamsburg areas.
Homes in Virginia were on the market for a median of 10 days last month, the same time frame as during March 2023.
Home prices continue to rise even though sales volume has slowed. The statewide median sales price in March was $397,000, up more than $27,000 or 7.3%, from last year.
The Virginia housing market had 8,981 pending sales last month, up by 444 pending sales from last year, a 5.2% increase.
Mortgage rates have risen above the 7% mark for the first time since December 2023. For the week ending April 18, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.1%, up from 6.88% the previous week and up from 6.62% at the start of 2024, according to Freddie Mac data.
“If these upward trends continue, the spring market will likely be slower than last year, and last year was the slowest spring we’ve seen in a decade,” Ryan Price, Virginia Realtors’ chief economist, said in a statement.
Home sales in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads dropped year-over-year in March, a reversal from sales growth seen in February. Median sales prices, though, continued to rise.
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia home sales in March dropped 13.8% from March 2023, a reversal from the year-over-year sales growth seen in February, according to data the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors released Friday.
Closed home sales for the region last month totaled 1,191 units, down from March 2023 but up about 14.4% from the 1,020 homes sold in February. New pending sales numbered 1,606 sales, up 0.4% from the same month last year.
“We had a reprieve in February as sales grew year-over-year for the first time since 2021, but March was a return to what we have been experiencing: lower sales from the previous year,” NVAR board member Christina Rice with Pearson Smith Realty said in a statement. “That said, I think February’s positive news represents a change that is going to slowly transform the housing market, getting us back to more normal market dynamics.”
Active listings in March totaled 1,210 units, down 14.6% from the 1,417 reported in the same month last year. There were 1,504 new listings in Northern Virginia last month, down from March 2023’s 1,744 new listings.
Reflecting the market’s high demand and low supply, homes stayed on the market an average of 16 days in March, down 27.3% from the 22-day average recorded in March 2023. 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 0.9 months, the same MSI as March 2023 and roughly the same as February’s MSI.
The median sold price for a home last month was $730,000, up 9.8% compared to March 2023 and up from the February median price of $687,250. The total sold volume in March was $973.6 million, down 8.5% from March 2023.
“We are seeing less dramatic drops in year-over-year sales than in the past year,” NVAR CEO Ryan McLaughlin said in a statement. “Coupled with February’s good news, we expect to see more homeowners ready to sell in the height of the spring market.”
NVAR reports home sales activity for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
Hampton Roads
In Hampton Roads, home sales in March were down year-over-year, but supply rose, according to Real Estate Information Network (REIN) data released Wednesday.
The Hampton Roads housing market had 2,057 closed sales last month, up from the 1,709 sales reported in February but down about 9.66% from the March 2023 total of 2,277 sales. Pending sales totaled 2,317, up from 2,138 pending sales in February but down from 2,454 in March 2023.
March 2024 statistics for the Hampton Roads housing market. Image courtesy Real Estate Information Network
The Hampton Roads market had 3,574 active listings last month, the highest number of active listings in a March since March 2020, when 6,820 homes were listed. The March 2024 total is also up 14.4% from the 3,124 listings reported in March 2023 and slightly up from February, which had 3,568 active listings.
Additionally, the month’s supply of inventory was 1.75, up slightly from the MSI of 1.73 in February and from March 2023’s MSI of 1.27.
“More inventory means more choices for consumers, which is a good thing,” Gary Lundholm with The Real Estate Group, president of REIN’s board of directors, said in a statement. “And as we head into spring and summer, having that additional inventory will hopefully help keep prices more affordable for buyers, while still ensuring home sellers get a fair return.”
Homes spent a median of 18 days on the market in March, down from 22 days in February but up from the 15-day median reported in March 2023.
The median sale price of homes in the region was $332,000 last month, up from $327,500 in February and from $320,000 in March 2023.
“The median selling price for homes in March 2020 was $249,900,” Lundholm said in a statement. “While that market was very different from today’s market, more choices for a buyer means that not only does that buyer have a better chance of finding the right home, but they might also have a bit less competition for the home they want.”
Founded in 1969, REIN is a regional multiple listing service that covers an area stretching from Williamsburg east to Virginia Beach and south across the North Carolina border.
The pace of sales in Virginia’s housing market picked up in February, increasing 3.5% over February 2023, according to Virginia Realtors data released Tuesday.
In February, there were 6,733 home sales in the commonwealth, 228 more sales than this time last year. At the end of the month, there were 16,004 homes on the market, up by 1,446 active listings from a year ago — a 9.9% increase.
New listings also increased in February, totaling 9,729, which is up 1,395 new listings, or 16.7%, from February 2023. The increase is the largest influx of new listings Virginia has had since summer 2021, Virginia Realtors Chief Economist Ryan Price said in a statement. Additionally, about 64% of cities and counties around Virginia had more listings on the market in February than this time last year, indicating an increase in supply.
“This increase is a welcome signal to buyers, but inventory levels are still tight, and market conditions remain very competitive in most parts of Virginia,” Price said in a statement.
Homes in Virginia were on the market for a median of 15 days last month, down one day from the 16-day median reported in February 2023.
Home prices continue to rise as demand remains high. The statewide median sales price in February was $384,576, up more than $14,500, or 3.9%, from last year.
Pent-up demand and tight (though improving) inventory levels will likely “keep the market competitive as we head into spring, and prices will remain on an upward trajectory across most of the state,” Tom Campbell, Virginia Realtors’ 2024 president, said in a statement.
The Virginia housing market had 7,356 pending sales last month, up by 546 pending sales from last year, an 8% increase.
Mortgage rates moved slightly lower this week. For the week ending March 28, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.79%, down 0.08% from the previous week, and the four-week average was 6.82%, according to Freddie Mac data.
“February’s uptick in pending sales and new listings indicates renewed interest from sellers and move-up buyers,” Virginia Realtors CEO Terrie Suit said in a statement. “If mortgage rates drift downward later this year, as they are expected to, we could see even more sales volume growth across Virginia.”
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