About James City County, VA

Housing market report for the middle Atlantic region

by Sybil Campbell REALTOR

Long and Foster has just released a housing market report for the middle Atlantic region. To view this report click here. In this report you can find data about the number of housing units sold over the last nine quarters.

An overview shows geographical housing markets as either declining, neutral or advancing.

You will find data about the number of houses sold, the market trends, and the ratio of sales price to list price as a percentage.

To see the latest data about home sales in Williamsburg Va. and the surrounding areas, click here.

Sybil Campbell

urhomecompass.com

There are currently 119 homes for sale in Fords Colony in Williamsburg Va listed in the Williamsburg MLS.

The prices for these homes range from $278,000 for a townhome with 1466 square feet to $1,950,000 for a large golf front home with almost 8,000 square feet of living space.

The variety of price and style of homes for sale in Fords Colony offers something for almost everyone.

Fords Colony is a gated golf and country club community that spans over 3,000 acres. There are three golf courses, the Blackheath, the Blue Heron and the Marsh Hawk.

In addition to golf there is a swim and tennis club, a lovely owners clubhouse and lots of activities for residents. If you would like to see one of the homes for sale in Fords Colony, call Sybil to set up a private showing.

In this blog you will find some data on active listing in the Williamsburg area during 2009, you will also see some practical ways that this data can help you with one of your greatest investments, your home.

The first chart includes the number of residential units sold in 2009 as well as the number of homes that went pending in 2009. To see this chart from the Williamsburg MLS click here. It is important that you note that the data includes houses sold in areas that would be considered outside of the Williamsburg area, areas such as Chesterfield, Henrico, Matthews, West Point, Surry, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Newport News, Hampton and Gloucester.

Click on this link for cumulative totals of homes sold in 2009 that were listed in the Williamsburg MLS. The cumulative totals include the city of Williamsburg, as well as James City County, York, New Kent and Charles City Counties. The counties included share a border up with either Wiliamsburg or James City County.

While lots of people want to see statistics for real estate activity in their area, they may not know how to practically use it.

Here are a few ideas:

• Days on the market is a good indicator of how long it will take to sell a home in Williamsburg area
• Median and average sold price indicate what price home in is selling in the Williamsburg area most often
  
• The number of active listings in the Williamsburg area shows how many homes buyers can choose from

For more interesting data about the Williamsburg area real estate market click here.

Homes for sale in Williamsburg are priced lower than they have been in years! In many areas the home prices are lower than they were in 2004 or 2005.

I often have people ask me if the home sales in Williamsburg are picking up and I try to be honest with them about my observations about our real estate market in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Some property owners who ask about home prices in Williamsburg seem very discouraged when I tell them that I don't think their home's value is going to start increasing significantly very soon. Based on historic trends in home sales and the predictions of many economists, I believe it may be three to five years before we see home prices in Williamsburg rise significantly.

Real estate trends have always been cyclical and history tells us that the cycles tend to last for about seven years. The last "up cycle" that we experienced was longer than normal and prices escalated at rates that our economy could not support. What we all need to accept, whether we like it or not, is that the value of our homes have more than likely dropped from what they were at the height of the market in 2005 or 2006.

Remember that all real estate is local. I posted a blog about home sales in Williamsburg a few months ago. I noted that the values of homes in some areas have remained relatively stable, while in other subdivisions they have dropped dramatically. To read this blog click here.

If you are considering buying a house within the next couple of months, you should probably buy now while the prices and interest rates are low.

The belief by many economists and mortgage professionals is that interest rates will start to rise in 2010.

So, if you are going to buy and plan to stay in the house for at least three to five years, then you will probably see your property's value increase. If you get an especially good buy, the value of your home may increase more quickly.

A recent blog noted the homes sales in the Williamsburg area during each calendar year for the past decade.

The data was definitely eye opening. Now as a Williamsburg homeowner you may be wondering what is my home worth in today's real estate market.

Let's analyze this data.

According to the Williamsburg MLS:

• 2103 residential homes were listed for sale during 2009
• 925 homes sold in 2009
  

That means:

• 1 in ever 2.3 listings sold in Williamsburg
  
• 44% of listings sold in Williamsburg

If you are considering trying to sell your home in 2010 you need to be aware of additional factors that will affect the sale of your home:

• According to some economist's predictions inflation is inevitable in our economy
  
• Interest rates are climbing
  
• FHA loans have more stringent guidelines for potential borrowers
  
• The Federal Tax Credits that are currently available for houses are in effect through April 30, 2010
  
• We have undoubtedly not seen the last of the foreclosures and short sales

If you have a question or would like more information about Williamsburg and the housing market click here.