Read All About It: Arlington Virginia Housing Market a Hot Spot for Sales

Recent sales activity and current inventory in Arlington, Virginia make it the hottest place to sell a home in the metropolitan D.C. area. Hotter than neighboring Alexandria, Fairfax County, and even Washington D.C. Loudoun County and Prince William County lag far behind in sales activity measured by market absorption rates.

Absorption rate is a measure of how quickly existing inventory of homes for sale will sell at current rates assuming no further inventory is brought onto the market. For this analysis, I examined how many homes are currently on the market in each city or county and divided it by the number of sales in that jurisdiction for the month of December 2007. The resulting chart shows the number of months of available housing stock.

As you can see, sales are still brisk in Arlington which has half as much comparable inventory as Loudoun County and less than 1/3 of that of Prince William County. Sellers in those counties are in for a tough time unless they absolutely price the home right.

Recent Home Sales in Arlington, Virginia

Home sales in Arlington, Virginia for December 2007 totaled 184 homes at an average price of $576,159. The average sales price was up 4.33% from December 2006, but the number of sales were down a significant 26.4%. Spending an average of only 73 days on the market, homes in Arlington are selling much faster than in many other Northern Virginia jurisdictions.

Here's a breakdown of December 2007 Arlington home sales by area:

Clarendon (22201 zip code): 47 homes sold. Average sales price of $635,010 was down just slightly (1.5%) from December 2006. Number of sales rose by 4%. Some of the most popular condos in Arlington are in the Clarendon neighborhood including Clarendon 1021, Odyssey Condos, Station Square Condos, and the older but popular Colonial Village. Homes in Clarendon were selling quickly at only 60 days on the market.

Aurora Hills/Crystal City (22202): 19 homes sold at an average price of $431,892 representing a 10% increase over December 2006. Additionally, the number of units sold was up significantly from the previous year. Popular areas here include Crystal Park, the Eclipse Condos (near Potomac Yards and Ronald Reagan National Airport), Crystal Gateway, and Horizon House.

Ballston (22203): Although the number of units sold was down significantly by 35.7% from December 2006, the homes that do sell in Ballston (18 in December 2007) are selling very quickly. In fact, this is the quickest selling area of Arlington with the average home on the market for only 42 days! The average sales price for December 2007 was $525,544, a 10% increase from the previous December. Residential neighborhoods here include Arlington Oaks, Ashton Heights, and Bonair. There are lots of high-rise condominium communities to choose from including the Alta Vista, Ballston 880, Continental, Hyde Park, Hawthorn Condos, and Tower Villas.

South Arlington (22204): 31 homes sold. With 207 homes currently available, this area has the most available homes of any location in Arlington. The December 2007 sales price averaged $361,307 and sales volume was also down by 34% compared to the previous December. South of Route 50, this area of Arlington includes homes in Alcova Heights, Alcova Row, Arlington Forest, Arlington Village, Barcroft, Columbia Knolls, Douglas Park, Park Glen and Park Spring.

Westover (22205): Only 9 homes sold. The average sales price for December 2007 was virtually unchanged from December 2006 at $698,611, but the sales volume was way down from the 25 that sold the previous December. In addition to the Westover community, this area of Arlington County includes Dominion Hills, Lacey Forest, Larchmont, Madison Manor, and Tuckahoe Village.

Shirlington (22206): 21 homes sold at a virtually unchanged average sales price of $369,869. Homes in Shirlington are also selling pretty quickly spending an average of 53 days on the market. In addition to some new condos, this area includes the established neighborhoods of Courtbridge, Fairlington, The Arlington, and Windgate of Arlington.

North Arlington (22207): 19 homes sold. This is the most expensive area of Arlington with the average sales price reaching $1,093,063, a remarkable 49.7% increase from December 2006. Many fewer homes sold in December 2007 than the previous year and with an average time on market of 153 days. Additionally, while most homes in Arlington sold for around 95% of the asking price, there's a bit more negotiating room here as shown by the 89.5% ratio of sales price to listing price. Areas here include Arlingwood, Bellevue Forest, Broyhill Forest, Cherrydale, Country Club Hills, Lee Heights, Shirley Woods, and Woodmont.

Rosslyn (22209); 15 homes sold at an average price of $582,694. There's some negotiating room here too, as the sales price to listing price ratio was 92% -- lower than most areas of Arlington. Popular living choices in Rosslyn include the Atrium Condos, Belvedere Condos, Bromptons at Rosslyn, Prospect House, River Place, and The Weslie.

West Arlington (22213); Just 3 home sales for December 2007. The average sales price here was $827,667 and the 3 homes spent an average of 166 days on the market. This small area of Arlington County includes Berkshire Oakwood, Falls Station, and The Westlee.

Current Inventory of Homes for Sale in Arlington (as of January 14, 2008):

CLICK HERE TO START SEARCHING FOR A HOME IN ARLINGTON OR ELSEWHERE IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA

One more note -- there are very few foreclosures in Arlington (see comparison between Arlington and other areas of Northern Virginia).

If you are interested in information on foreclosures, please e-mail me with the subject line "foreclosures" and I can send you information on those homes.