McLean, VA

From examining McLean single family home sales that closed in the last four Septembers, it is clear that at least here, the housing market downturn has hit bottom and is now clearly on its way back. In fact, the 33 homes sold in September 2009 in McLean is more than any of the three previous Septembers, including September 2008 (17 sold), September 2007 (31 sold), and September 2006 (24 sold). Not surprisingly, September 2008 is the low point, which was the month that the stock market collapsed and people suddenly lost up 40% of their net worth in a matter of weeks.

Home sale prices also rebounded in September 2009, with a median sold price of $969,974 compared to a median sold price of $835,000 in September 2008. We are still not back to where we were in September 2007, where the median sold price was $1,089,019, or near the height of the market in September 2006, where the median sold price was a $1,112,500.

Below is a chart comparing the last 4 Septembers in McLean. I will take a look at condos and townhouses in future posts.

The McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) will hold an outdoor art festival this Sunday, October 4th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the McLean Central Park. The event, titled MPAartfest, is aimed at "connecting art and community." The festival will include local artists of all ages and also include a variety of live performances at the Central Park's Gazebo Stage. For more information, visit the McLean Project for the Arts.

SAIC, a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering, and technology applications company, announced last week that it is moving its corporate headquarters from San Diego to McLean. According to a press release issued by the company, this "move will formally relocate the corporate executive leadership team closer to our federal government customers enabling us to better respond quickly and efficiently to their critical needs, while maintaining a significant presence in San Diego," said SAIC Chief Executive Officer Walt Havenstein.

According to the Baltimore Business Journal, the "company currently employs about 17,500 people in the Washington area with about 6,000 in McLean - outweighing its 4,500-employee presence in Southern California and creating speculation for years that the company would move its headquarters. SAIC is the fourth-largest employer in Fairfax County." Quoting an SAIC executive, the Journal went on to explain that SAIC "will invest $25 million to complete the move and make additional investments to support the planned redevelopment of Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia." The executive also said that "SAIC's 18-acre parcel is the largest one zoned for mixed-use in Tysons Corner."

There will be more companies like SAIC relocating to Tysons Corner as that massive expansion continues...stay tuned.

Fairfax County Public School System (FCPS) recently released SAT results from seniors graduating in 2005 and they are the highest to date. True to form, County students overall scored significantly higher than the Nation and the rest of Virginia. In Mathematics, FCPS students scored an average of 565 compared to the national average of 520 and the Virgina average of 514. FCPS students also scored higher on the verbal section as well, with an average score of 549 compared to 508 and 516 for the nation and state respectively.

Within Fairfax County, Langley and McLean High Schools finished only behind Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) - the County's renowned magnet school - in terms of the highest math and verbal SAT scores. In Math, Langley just edged out McLean High with an average score of 608 compared to McLean's 605 (TJHSST finished well ahead at 749 in math). Langley also finished second in the County in Verbal with an average SAT score of 591 compared to McLean High School's 582 (TJHSST students posted an average verbal score of 731).

Below is a chart broken out by high school within the FCPS sorted from highest to lowest for SAT scores in Math and Verbal. The entire report can be found here.