2012_July_Report

VIRGINIA HOME SALES REPORT J

UL

Y

2012

Published by Virginia Association of REALTORS®, the advocate for real estate professionals and property owners in Virginia.

July 2012Virginia Monthly Home Sales Report

Published by the Virginia Association of REALTORS® Page 2

7,970 8,138

6,916

6,2676,076

6,762

5,089

5,945

7,2767,656

9,046

9,632

8,422

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Jul-11 Aug-11 Sep-11 Oct-11 Nov-11 Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12 Mar-12 Apr-12 May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12

Virginia's Monthly Pace of Residential SalesSingle Family, Townhomes, Condos

The pace of Virginia home sales continued to increase in July 2012 with a 6% year over year increase to 8,422 home sales. Virginia’s residential housing market has been strong throughout 2012, likely due to continued low unemployment rates in Virginia, as well as record low mortgage interest rates. If 2011 home sales are a predictor of the future, we should expect to see another strong month of sales in August 2012, followed by a decline into the fall months.

+6%



$2

55

,22

0

$2

50

,00

0

$2

39

,88

8

$2

29

,70

0

$2

36

,00

0

$2

32

,50

0

$2

05

,00

0

$2

13

,70

0

$2

14

,00

0

$2

25

,00

0

$2

25

,00

0 $2

45

,00

0

$2

41

,00

0

$2

39

,90

0

$2

23

,86

0

$2

15

,00

0

$2

20

,00

0

$2

25

,00

0

$2

04

,00

0

$2

10

,00

0

$2

25

,00

0

$2

38

,00

0

$2

49

,90

0

$2

55

,05

0

$2

56

,00

0

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

Med

ian

Sal

es P

rice

Virginia Median Residential Sales PriceSingle Family Homes, Townhomes, Condos

Alongside a 6% increase in the pace of home sales in Virginia (see Page 2), we also witnessed an increase in median sales prices in Virginia. The median sales price in July 2012 ($256000) marks a 6% increase from one year earlier ($$241,000), and a 0.3% increase from two years ago ($255,220). This is also the highest median sales price seen in over two years in Virginia.

It is typical in Virginia to see a steady increase in median sales price between January and July, thus we should expect to see median prices start to decline during through the fall months. The increased pace of buyer activity is certainly helping to provide further stabilization and growth in median sales prices.

+6%

+0.3%



2,409 2,423

1,958

1,715 1,699

1,889

1,320

1,561

2,038

2,259

2,786

3,071

2,639

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500


Mill

ions

of

Dol

lars

of

Res

iden

tial

Sal

es

Virginia Monthly Residential Sales VolumeSingle Family Homes, Townhomes, Condos

The total volume of real estate sold in Virginia during July 2012 ($2.6B) marks a significant 10% increase in the volume of real estate being transferred as compared to last July. Given the recent increases in median sales prices (see Page 3), we should expect to see further increases in overall sales volume as the pace of sales increases (see Page 2).

+10%



80 80

85 86

9195

101 10199 99

96

88 8993

9799

101 101

107105

103

90

8379 80

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Ave

rage

Day

s O

n M

arke

t

Virginia Average Days On MarketSingle Family Homes, Townhomes, Condos

After an 11% increase in average days on market between July 2010 (80 days on market) and July 2011 (89 days on market) Virginia’s housing market then experienced a matching decline of 10% in this metric over the past year back to 80 days on market.

It is typical to see an increase in average days on market during the fall and winter months, thus we will likely see this metric start to increase over the next several months.

+11%-10%



7.0

%

6.9

%

6.9

%

6.5

%

6.4

%

6.5

%

6.4

% 6.9

%

6.6

%

6.3

%

6.1

%

6.0

%

6.0

%

6.1

%

6.3

%

6.5

%

6.4

%

6.2

%

6.1

%

5.8

%

5.7

%

5.6

%

5.6

%

5.6

%

5.7

%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%

Jun-10 Sep-10 Dec-10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12

Virginia Unemployment RateSource: Bureau of Labor & Statistics

Virginia’s unemployment rate continue to hover in the 5.6% - 5.7% range where it has lingered for most of 2012. The current level of 5.7% places Virginia in 10th place in the country for lowest unemployment rates.

4.55%

4.22%

4.01%4.10%

3.98% 3.95% 3.98% 3.95% 3.99%3.88%

3.75%3.66%

3.49%

3.0%

3.2%

3.4%

3.6%

3.8%

4.0%

4.2%

4.4%

4.6%

4.8%


Average 30-Year Mortgage Interest RatesSource: FreddieMac

Average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates hit yet another historic low in July 2012 with an average rate of 3.49% at the end of the month. This marks over a full percentage point decline as compared to one year ago (4.55%). These tremendously low interest rates make it quite compelling for buyers to step into the market, given how they can protect themselves from inflation by fixing their housing costs at such a low, long term rate.



The Virginia Association of REALTORS® (VAR) is the business advocate for real estate professionals in Virginia. VAR represents more than 29,000 REALTORS active in all phases of real estate brokerage, management, development and appraisal. Our mission is to enhance our membership’s ability to achieve business success.

All inquiries regarding this report should be directed to:

Stacey Ricks, Director of Public RelationsVirginia Association of REALTORS®10231 Telegraph Road, Glen Allen, VA 23059(804) 249-5716 [email protected]/HomeSales

Information sourced from multiple listing services across the state with data compiled by R E Stats Inc.All information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. Figures might not match those reported elsewhere.

Documents

2012_July_Report