byline: Katherine Schulte

The Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads housing markets showed encouraging signs in January, despite the seasonal slowdown.

Northern Virginia

In Northern Virginia, January closed home sales dipped 0.9% from January 2023, with 771 units sold last month, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Homes sold faster than in January 2023, though, with houses spending an average of 29 days on the market last month, down 19.4% from a year ago but up from 24 days in December 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 0.74 months, the same as December’s MSI but up 1.5% from January 2023.

“Lower rates and demand for homes this January brought a bit of optimism to the real estate market,” Veronica Seva-Gonzalez with Compass Realty, an NVAR board member, said in a statement. “In good news for buyers, inventory grew slightly, giving them a more a few more choices in the marketplace.”

Northern Virginia had 981 active listings last month, down 18.9% from a year ago. New pending sales in January totaled 1,033, down 9.3% from January 2023.

The median sales price for houses in January was $650,000, up 6.6% from a year ago but down from December’s median of $675,000.

“As predicted, we are seeing sales moderate as people react to lower rates and pent-up demand. I anticipate even more sellers will test the market, and buyers will continue to scoop up houses quickly, paying the higher prices,” NVAR CEO Ryan McLaughlin said in a statement.

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, active residential listings last month totaled 3,538, up 1.4% from December 2023 and up 8.33% from the 3,266 listings reported in January 2023, according to the Real Estate Information Network (REIN).

Pending sales in January totaled 1,837, a 21.7% increase from the 1,509 reported in December 2023, but down from 1,843 in January 2023. The region had 1,470 settled sales last month, down from 1,708 in the preceding month and from 1,501 in January 2023.

The median sales price of homes sold in January was $320,500, which is down from $330,000 in December but up from $303,000 a year ago.

The month’s supply of inventory was 1.72 in January, up from 1.69 in December 2023 and from 1.27 in January 2023.

“For potential home buyers in the Hampton Roads region, the spring market is showing several positive factors,” REIN Board President Gary Lundholm with The Real Estate Group said in a statement. “Active listings are up over both last month and last year; we’re seeing mortgage rates trending down for the most part, and January’s median sales prices were the lowest they’ve been since last April.”

Homes, however, were on the market for a median of 32 days, the highest median days on the market in more than three years.

“The winter months are typically a bit slower in real estate,” Lundholm said in a statement. “And with interest rates being higher than usual and prices also staying level, it’s not surprising to see some properties sitting on the market longer than they normally would. We’ll see improvement though as the weather warms — especially if mortgage rates continue to drop.”

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.