Here we are, zooming towards Thanksgiving and obviously there is still plenty going on in the real estate market here in the Northern Neck. What I found by looking at this year compared with 2012 and 2013 is that we are doing better than the previous two years. Keep in mind that those two years were the first reasonably notable step up from the sluggishness (or almost standstill) that occured post September 2008 when the extremely troubled financial world really shattered our sense of comfort in terms of investments and how to deal with our money....obviously it affected us all.
I'm glad to be able to say that at this point 2014 is shaping up to be a more successful year dollars-wise and sales numbers-wise than the previous two years. As we've discussed, though, there has been a shift in where those sales are taking place (in terms of price point). These charts are for the timeframe indicated and for the 5 counties which include Westmoreland, Northumberland, Richmond, Lancaster and Essex.
Residential sales 1/1 through 11/1
| |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
Active |
| # sold |
345 |
392 |
427 |
947 |
| $ sold (millions) |
92.1 |
108.9 |
115.4 |
376.6 |
| Median sales price |
215,000 |
206,000 |
195,000 |
299,900 |
| Median days on market |
169 |
206.5 |
189 |
184 |
Improving sales numbers in 2014 and improving sales dollars. It is true, though, that the median sales price has continued to drop and the relationship between the 2014 median sales price and that of the actives is a really big leap. Nice that the median days on market has dropped, although it is still signficant. Median days on market for those that are active are in the same ballpark. A bit more than double the 2014 sold inventory in the active column, but we've seen more challenging relationships. All in all this says we are improving in our sales although we know that not every category of property falls into that improving zone.
Land sales 1/1 through 11/1
| |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
Active |
| # sold |
112 |
123 |
122 |
936 |
| $ sold (millions) |
9.1 |
10.9 |
14.1 |
137.3 |
| Median sales price |
47,750 |
53,000 |
67,500 |
75,000 |
| Median days on market |
160 |
211 |
203.5 |
374 |
This doesn't look too bad. I think with a total of one fewer sale and the fact that it sometimes takes Realtors a few days, if not a week or two to close out their sales in our system, it is okay to say we've sold as many if not perhaps more this year. The dollars are certainly higher and therefore the median sales price is higher too. Over 200 days on the market for the solds (the median) but that's a far cry from the median days on market for the actives at this point. Lots of inventory and lots of days on market for that inventory. Still, solid sales this year which is good.
The cumulative numbers for 2014 tell us that yes, we are doing fine this year. This is a pretty stable market.
