Loudoun Housing Inventory Way Down, Market Conditions
April 10, 2009 by Danilo Bogdanovic
Filed under Statistics
Loudoun County's housing inventory/supply is still going down. The number of active properties for sale as of 12:30pm today is 1252. This is less than half the number of homes for sale in 2007 and about a third less than the latter part of 2008. We haven't this few homes for sale in Loudoun County since the boom market in the first half of this decade.
What does this mean?
- Buyers have less homes to choose from
- Multiple offers are increasingly common (not just my observation and experience, but that of other agents in Loudoun and NoVA I've spoken with)
- Prices are holding steady
- Less competition for sellers with their home on the market
- Great time for sellers to sell their property if they're in the position to do so
The interesting thing is that the "spring market", which means more housing inventory on the market, typically starts in the middle of February or beginning of March. Here we are April 10 and the inventory is less than it was in January, February or March meaning that the "spring market" has yet to materialize (if it will at all).
Note: I do not include new construction listings in the MLS because they are extremely inaccurate. But, when looking at those, they plummeted as well so it just confirms that overall inventory in Loudoun is way down.
pete croft on Mon, 4th May 2009 10:55 am
I am curious, I see a lot of fixer upper homes out there for sale and am wondering if there is a standard for Sale price versus the Assessed value? Is there a rule of thumb? Some of the houses are total rehabs.
Pete
Danilo Bogdanovic on Mon, 4th May 2009 11:06 am
Pete – There’s no standard for Sales price vs Assessed Value. The accuracy of Assessed Values varies greatly and the Assessed Value is only the County’s opinion of a property’s value on January 1 of that year.
Determining the Market Value of a property includes how the property (including the condition it’s in) compares to other comparable homes that have recently sold (within the last 90 days) along with the current market conditions.
Say a property that is a total rehab is listed for $200K. Let’s say it will take $40K to fix it up and bring up to par. If the market value of that property fixed up is $240K or more, then it makes sense to buy it for $200K (or less). If the market value of that property fixed up is less than $240K, then it doesn’t make sense to pay $200K for it.