NoVa, Hampton Roads home sales decline in August

Home sales in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads dropped year-over-year and month-over-month in August, although inventory and selling prices in both regions increased from the same time last year.

Northern Virginia

August home sales in Northern Virginia dropped 8.1% from August 2023, according to data released Sept. 12 by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.

Home sales in the region last month totaled 1,411 units, down almost 14% from the 1,639 sales recorded in July. Pending sales stood at 1,280 units, down from 1,304 units last year.

There were 1,814 active listings in August, up almost 22% from 1,492 listings last year. New listings numbered 1,349 units, down from 1,410 in August 2023.

Housing inventory and prices in the region grew year-over-year and month-over-month in August. 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 1.4 months, up from 1.08 months in August 2023 and up from the MSI of 1.3 in July. That inventory level is higher than the five-year average of a 1.2 MSI.

As inventory rose, homes stayed on the market longer — an average of 18 days, up 5.9% from August 2023 and up from July’s 16-day average.

The median sold price for a Northern Virginia home last month was $738,000, up 5.4% compared with August 2023 and up from the July median of $735,000.

“Fewer homes sold this August compared to last year even though consumers had more choices as supply loosened,” NVAR board member Tatiana Bush with eXp Realty said in a statement. “The increase in inventory did not dampen prices, which continued to climb. The good news is that mortgage rates are slowly declining, giving consumers more buying power.”

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

Home sales in Hampton Roads last month totaled 2,282, down about 8% from the 2,478 recorded in August 2023 and down 2.7% from July’s 2,346 sales, according to Real Estate Information Network (REIN) data released Aug. 10.

Pending sales in the region totaled 2,123, down from the 2,289 recorded in August 2023 and from the 2,315 reported in July.

The number of Hampton Roads homes for sale last month was the highest it’s been since October 2020, when the region had 4,887 active listings. Active residential listings totaled 4,811, up from 3,680 active listings last year and from July’s 4,461 listings. The month’s supply of inventory was 2.38, up from 1.68 in August 2023 and from 2.28 in July.

“Traditionally, when inventory increases, prices will fall, but I think recent data shows that despite increases in inventory, it’s still somewhat of a seller’s market here in Hampton Roads,” Gary Lundholm with The Real Estate Group, president of REIN’s board of directors, said in a statement. “Just five years ago during the same month, there were over 8,000 homes on the market. So, despite the increase in listings over the last few years, inventory is still well below what we might consider normal and that has impacted selling prices.”

In August 2019, active listings in the region totaled 8,824, which dropped to 5,105 listings in August 2020, then 4,467 in August 2021, and down again to 4,117 listings in August 2022.

The median sales price (MSP) for the region rose year-over-year and has risen about 37.5% from August 2019’s MSP of $255,000. Last month, the MSP stood at $350,620, up from the MSP of $341,100 recorded in August 2023 but down from July’s MSP of $355,500.

Hampton Roads homes spent a median of 21 days on the market, up from the median of 14 in August 2023 and from the 18-day median recorded in July.

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.