Sellers were still not coming off the sidelines in droves as the Virginia real-estate market moved into springtime, according to new data, which is helping to prop up prices but may keep the all-important sales season from being robust.
Only 3 percent of respondents to the Virginia Realtors’ latest monthly “flash poll” of agent sentiment rated seller activity in their locales as high or very high, while 73 percent rated it low or very low. And on a 0-to-100 scale, the overall seller-activity index stood at a mere15.
Figures represent responses from 511 Virginia Realtors’ members, including 378 who participated in at least one transaction in the preceding month. The survey was open for responses March 22-31.
The paucity of sellers may be no surprise, as many cashed in and sold when the market was hot-hot-hot in 2021-22, while many others are happily sitting on mortgages with rock-bottom interest rates they are unlikely to want to give up.
The lack of sellers is impacting the buyer side of the equation. The Realtor group’s buyer-activity index score of 51 out of 100 was down from 56 in February, when industry professionals seemed a little more enthusiastic about the market pulling away from the wintertime doldrums.
The buyer index represents a significant split in viewpoints: A total of 32 percent of respondents said buyer activity in their areas was high or very high, while 30 percent said it was low or very low.
The lack of inventory is aiding those sellers who are out there; 44 percent of the sales that respondents were involved in had prices above listing (up slightly from 42% a month before) and the typical property garnered an average 3.2 offers before finding a buyer, up from 2.2 a year before.
Where is the Old Dominion’s real-estate market headed? The flash survey asked respondents to guesstimate where things would stand in three months’ time and came up with an overall index score of 51 out of 100, down from 61 a month before.
As for where prices would be in three months: 37 percent of respondents expected increases, 30 percent declines and 31 percent forecast no major change.
Full details can be found at www.virginiarealtors.org under Research.
The monthly survey is not a scientific sampling of the trade organization’s membership, but the response level is high enough for it to be a good snapshot of sentiment, officials say.
