Sterling Single Family Home Median Price Up $70K

The median price of single family homes in Sterling (20164, 20165, 20166 zip codes) has gone up an astonishing $70K since April. Talk about a roller coaster of a ride for median prices in Sterling - they have been in a free fall since the market turned in 2005, hit $260K in April, shot up to about $380K and came back down to $335K.

If there was ever a great example of what supply vs demand means to median prices, Sterling is it. Check out how median prices starting coming back down at the very same time that inventory started to increase (July 1).

Sterling Single Family Home Median Price - up $70K since April

Sterling Single Family Home Inventory - up 25 percent since July

What will median prices do going forward? We’ll have to see whether inventory continues to go up, plateau or go down.

P.S. Check back tomorrow for Ashburn’s median price and inventory levels.

Sterling Housing Market Update

Here’s a look at what’s going on with the Sterling housing market (all zip codes)…

Sterling Median Price

The median price has been falling in Sterling since the market turned until about March of this year. Over the past rew months, the median price has spiked significantly (by almost $100,000).

Sterling Inventory

Inventory of single family and town homes in Sterling has dropped by 60 percent since 2007 and 56 percent since this time last year. The condo inventory in Sterling has dropped by 45 percent since this time last year. This is most significant decrease of inventory out of any large town in Loudoun County.

Sterling Housing Market Overview

The huge drop in inventory throughout Sterling along with a huge increase in buyer demand has lead to a huge shift in the housing market in Sterling. Sterling has some of the lowest price points in Loudoun and lots of foreclosure and short-sale activity making it extremely attractive to first-time home buyers and investors. We’re even seeing areas of Sterling with slight to substantial recent price appreciation.

Homes that are priced well are getting a lot of traffic and a purchase offer within 1 to 2 weeks on the market. Homes priced slightly below (or way below as is the case with many bank-owned and short-sale properties) are getting multiple offers (5, 10, 15+ offers) and are bidding up over asking price within days, if not hours of hitting the market.

We’re seeing slight signs of the inventory leveling out. Unless it levels out, we’ll most likely see median prices continue their upward trend and lots of multiple offers on properties well into the summer.

Sterling Real Estate Market Statistics (20164, 20165, 20166) - September 2008

Here are the September 2008 statistics for the Sterling real estate market (20164, 20165 and 20166 zip codes):

Sterling - 20164 - September 2008

• New listings = 126. This is a 7 percent decrease in new inventory as compared to September 2007
• Solds (Under Contract) = 114. This is a 317 percent increase in buyer demand as compared to September 2007

Sterling - 20165 - September 2008

• New listings = 52. This is a 27 percent decrease in new inventory as compared to September 2007
• Solds (Under Contract) = 31. This is a 172 percent increase in buyer demand as compared to September 2007

Sterling - 20166 - September 2008

• New listings = 11. This is a 45 percent decrease in new inventory as compared to September 2007
• Solds (Under Contract) = 15. This is a 214 percent increase in buyer demand as compared to September 2007

The 20164 zip code had the largest increase in buyer demand out of the three zip codes in Sterling. In fact, Sterling's 20164 zip code had more sales and the highest increase in buyer demand in September 2008 out of any zip code in Loudoun County.

But the rate at which new listings came on the market in the 20164 zip code remained relatively steady as compared to last year. This is mostly due to the large number of sub-prime loans and distressed properties found in that zip code which are helping fuel new short-sale and foreclosure/bank-owned listings.

Also.. notice that there were more sales in that zip code than there were new listings. That's great for sellers and the real estate market in general, but not-so-great for buyers looking in that zip code.

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