Home sales continued to be down across Arlington in September, according to new data, but prices rose year-over-year in each of the three segments of the market.
As a result, despite the lower sales, total sales volume actually posted a modest year-over-year increase.
A total of 171 properties went to closing during the month, according to figures reported by MarketStats by ShowingTime based on listing activity from Bright MLS. That’s down about 18 percent from the 208 transactions recorded a year before.
“It’s a challenging market for borrowers and buyers, especially first-time home buyers,” said Jamie DeSimone of Keller Williams Capital Properties, a member of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors’ board of directors.
“ The increase in interest rates is a primary deterrent for buyers and would-be sellers,” DiSimone said, while “current homeowners have no incentive to forgo their lower interest rate unless they are forced to move. That’s why home-buying options are scarce.”
That scarcity is resulting in buyers paying ever more for homes, even though that may represent a roll of the dice that a significant market correction isn’t in the cards.
For Arlington, the upward pressure on prices is continuing even as the market starts its transition from summer to autumn:
• The average sales price of single-family homes rose just under 16 percent year-over-year to $1,323,495.
• The average price of attached homes (townhouses, rowhouses and condominiums) rose 17.3 percent to $561,536.
• The average price of condominiums rose 4.4 percent to $444,576.
Overall, the average sales price bumped up 25.2 percent to $846,713, but that was in part due to the larger percentage of single-family homes in the overall sales mix for the month (37 percent in September 2023 vs. 30 percent in September 2022).
A total of 50 properties changed hands for more than $1 million in the county, including three for $2.5 million. Total sales volume for the month stood at $144.8 million, up 1.8 percent from a year before.
Those higher prices are being propped up by the low inventory; in Arlington, the number of active listings at the end of September stood at 334, down nearly 24 percent from a year before.
For homes that sold in September across Arlington, conventional mortgages were the method of consummating deals in 93 cases, followed by a whopping 59 instances where cash was used (suggesting perhaps that developers are swooping in now that Arlington has effectively abolished single-family zoning). Nine buyers used VA-backed mortgages while four took advantage of loans backed by FHA.
Across Northern Virginia as a whole – Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church – the situation was much the same, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors:
• The number of closed sales in September 2023 was 1,180 units. This was down 18 percent compared to September 2022 and down 23 percent compared to August 2023. The five-year average for September closed sales is 1,685.
• The total sold volume in September 2023 was $868,927,096. That was down 14 percent compared to September 2022 and down 32 percent compared to August 2023.
• The average sold price for a home in September 2023 was $738,772, an increase of 6 percent from September 2022 but a decrease of 11 percent from August of 2023.
• The number of active listings in September 2023 was 1,661, down 30 percent compared to September 2022. The number of new listings was down 36 percent to 1,368 in September 2023. The five-year average for September active listings is 2,390.
• The total number of new pending sales in September 2023 was 1,220, a 12-percent decrease compared to September 2022.
For information about the Northern Virginia data, see the Website at NVAR.com/public.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All September 2023 figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.
