Fairfax County Real Estate Market February 2012. Price History/Days on Market

What is happening in the Fairfax County Real Estate market? That is the most frequently asked question we get.

There is no need to speculate; here are the major statistics through the month of January 2012.

The cherry blossoms have come and gone but Fairfax County's low unemployment rate (half the national average) combined with record low interest rates have kept the price recovery motoring along.

We tend to like longer term statistics since they smooth out seasonal aberrations and monthly anomalies and help illustrate any the strength or weakness which underlies the market.

Below is the 5 year median price trend for Fairfax which mirrors that of all NOVA counties. The market bottomed in 2009 and has been recovering a significant amount of the equity loss from the freakish never before seen price highs of 2005.

Hover your cursor over any point on the graphs to get a monthly read...they are interactive.

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Here is what has happened to prices year to date through January 2012:

(this is all home types: condos, townhouses and Single family homes)

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The number of days that it takes to get a winning contract has fallen to 45 a very wonderful number. Here is what that looks like.

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The existing inventory of re-sale homes is at a 3 year low. Short supply and strong demand has edged prices upward. Although Northern VA home prices took a beating between 2006 and first quarter of 2009, we have been spared the devastation that occurred in the "Sand" states of Florida, California,and Nevada. Full recovery is years away for those hard hit areas.

As always, the strong economy of our area has cushioned us from the worst.

Well priced homes under $350k in good locations and in good condition have been getting multiple contracts within a few weeks of coming on the market.

Upper end properties ...above $750k ,are moving more slowly even though some of them had sold for over a million once upon a time.

Jan and I have sold more new construction homes in the last year couple of years than we ever have. This is directly due to the low inventory of existing property combined with strong builder incentives.

However, builder's business actually has gotten so good in the last 9 months that they are cutting back on those sweet seller subsidies for buyer closing costs and the generous incentives for buyers options.

That said, there are some select builders who are offering some great options and subsidies, to get folks to come visit in the cold winter months.

My guess is that as the weather warms, these subsidies will shrink.

Once a given, the old $10k in buyer closing cost subsidy and $15k for options can no longer be assumed to be the norm.

Those builders that survived the plunge from 2006 to today are trying to get back in the black.

We have one of our clients in a lottery for a select lot....whoa! Crazy no?

The national news regarding real estate is NOT US.

Homes are selling...As an example, 400+ new homes sold in 2011 in the Ashburn community of Brambleton...an amazing #.

Thanks for stopping by our blog and come back often.

If you need information on new homes or any other area of real estate, drop us a line. We will do our best to get you what you need.

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