Suddenly, buyers are making themselves scarce in the Virginia real-estate market.
A new survey of members by the Virginia Realtors trade group shows a significant month-over-month decline in buyer interest from March to April, even as sellers were ever so slightly more active in the market.
Compiled from responses by 614 members of the organization, including 427 who participated in at least one transaction in the preceding month, results represent online responses from April 26 to May 2.
From the report:
• The monthly Buyer Activity Index stood at 45 on a 0-to-100 scale, down from 56 a month before and the first monthly decline of 2024. A total of 27 percent of respondents said buyer interest in their locale was “high” or “very high,” with 36 percent pegging it “low” or “very low.”
• The Seller Activity Index for the month rose slightly but still was at a generally anemic 22. Only 6 percent of respondents said seller activity was high or very high, with 61 percent responding it was low or very low.
Respondents also were asked to gaze three months into the future, to July – a point in the year where, typically, market activity has just peaked and is beginning on the downslope.
The Buyer Activity Index projected in the April report for three months from now was 46, down from 65 in the March report (representing projections for the June market). The Seller Activity Index projected for July was 33, down from 37 for June.
While activity may be down, those who are selling their homes can expect to pocket more: 54 percent of respondents said they anticipated higher average sales prices in three months’ time, with 18 percent saying prices would be lower and 22 percent projecting them to be roughly the same as currently.
Full data can be found at virginiarealtors.org under “Research.”
