Loudoun County Housing Inventory Cause for Caution

After a year of steadily diminishing housing inventory throughout Loudoun County, inventory has spiked over the last 2 months. After dropping almost 30 percent from the beginning of May 2009 to the middle of April 2010, inventory has spiked up almost 10 percent in a matter of a few weeks…

More Loudoun County housing inventory statistics…

• The number of new listings coming on the market in March 2010 was 50 percent higher than in March 2009 (1092 versus 727)
• The number of new listings coming on the market in April 2010 was 32 percent higher than in April 2009 (994 versus 752).

The increase in new listings and overall inventory may be a very welcome thing if you ask buyers. Most buyers can’t seem to find a home that meets their needs or they’re competing against multiple offers every time they do.

But if you’re a seller, that’s a different story. More homes on the market means more competition, lower selling prices and increased days on market.

Loudoun County housing inventory and the rate of new listings coming on the market is something we all need to keep our eyes on because if inventory continues to go up AND interest rates go up this summer as everyone is saying they will, the market will soften.

Putting Loudoun’s Housing Market into Perspective

You've seen the latest Loudoun County housing supply and demand numbers and statistics, but without anything to comapare them to, it's hard to put the Loudoun County housing market into perspective. So that's what we're going to do right now…

To recap, Loudoun County has 3.8 months worth of supply on the market and sales were up almost 50 percent in February 2009 over February 2008.

Now let's take a look at some other counties/cities in Virginia…

Prince William County

• 5.22 months supply on the market
• Sales were up 34 percent in February 2009 over February 2008

Stafford County

• 7.38 months supply on the market
• Sales were up 33 percent in February 2009 versus February 2008

Spotsylvania County

• 10.23 months supply on the market
• Sales were up 24 percent in February 2009 versus February 2008

Fredericksburg City

• 13.08 months supply on the market
• Sales were down 8.3 percent in February 2009 versus February 2008

Orange County

• 16.65 months supply on the market
• Sales were down 18 percent in February 2009 versus February 2008

In addition, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal talks about how Northern Virginia's housing market - Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria - is ahead of DC's and MD's housing market including when it comes to a housing recovery.

Imagine seeing homes sit on the market almost 2 to 4+ times as long as they are now and seeing demand (sales) and prices still decreasing rapidly?

Loudoun's housing market doesn't look too shabby when you put it into perspective, does it…

Thank you to Sarah Stelmok for the statistics on neighboring areas.

Enjoy the silence…

 

It's been kind of quiet here on LoudounScene.com due to the holidays, family gatherings, lots of cooking and cleaning and work (yes, buyers are still out there buying and homes still sell during the holidays). Hopefully you, like myself, had a good month and a chance to take a little break from the daily grind over the last week or so.

But that break is short-lived and it's back to the daily grind… Several posts will be coming out right after NYE. They will discuss the Loudoun County housing market including inventory/new listings and buyer demand/home sales numbers and trends. There will also be a 2008 Loudoun County housing market "year in review" post.

And keep an eye out for a post about a mortgage scam that homeowners should keep an eye out for – it's spreading throughout the country and has made it to Loudoun.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and see you in 2009!

-Danilo