Having peaked at just over $400,000 during the market frenzy last spring, the median sales price of homes sold across Virginia in January stood at $350,000.
But that was still up 3.7 percent year-over-year, according to new data from the Virginia Realtors trade group.
“Home prices continue to rise in most communities around the commonwealth, though the price of growth has moderated,” said Ryan Price, chief economist for the organization, in parsing the new sales data.
It’s not unusual that median sales prices in the fall and winter months are lower than those in spring and summer, and comparing January 2023 to Januaries of years gone by shows a relatively upward climb from $275,399 in 2019 – a bump up of 27 percent over five years.
Across the eight broad geographic regions of Virginia, home sales were up in six, down in one (Southside Virginia) and unchanged in another (Eastern Virginia). In the Northern Virginia reporting region, which includes the inner and outer suburbs and areas as far south as the Fredericskburg area, the average sales price was up 5.9 percent to $540,000.
The average sold-to-list-price ratio for sales in January was 98.8 percent, still high by historic norms but an easing of the rates achieved over the past three years.
Total sales across the commonwealth in January stood at 5,609, down 30 percent from a year before, when the market was still hot. And with homes taking longer to sell these days, inventory is beginning to build; it stood at 14,867 at the end of the month, up nearly 22 percent from a year before.
Sales were off in each of the eight geographic areas by double-digit margins, with one exception – in Southwest Virginia, sales actually increased one, from 127 in January 2022 to 128 in January 2023.
And overall, there was more variety waiting for prospective purchasers.
“About three out of every four cities and counties in Virginia had more active listings at the end of January compared to last year,” Price said. “The sharpest increase in listings this month was in parts of Northern Virginia, the Charlottesville region and the Northern Neck market.”
The good news for the Virginia market? The year-over-year sales decline should be easing shortly; the number of pending sales reported for the month was down, but only 12 percent. (And starting in late spring, the 2022 figures that 2023 will be compared to will be lower, as the market last March and April began to see drops owing to spiking interest rates and general concerns about affordability and the economy.)
While inventory is up from a year before, it remains low by historic norms. In January 2019, for instance, there were 32,696 homes on the Virginia market at the end of that month. That relatively low current inventory should help keep prices up during springtime, even if buyers are able to be more choosy than they were a year ago.
On the down side, Price said, “economic conditions remain mixed” and mortgage-interest rates are likely to remain volatile as long as inflationary pressures exist.
Adding up the sales and prices, the total market volume for January was $2.4 billion statewide, a full billion dollars less than a year ago.
For full details, see the Website at www.virginiarealtors.org.
