First, we've had quite the snow storm here. There's plenty of ice on the roads and really not much is going on. No school and I'm betting there are a lot of businesses closed. Cold, cold, cold. My husband thought I was crazy this morning because I had to make sure the dogs got their walk. Bundled all up and since there isn't any of the wind we had yesterday, really 4 degrees didn't feel bad at all. This, he thought, was really hard to believe. Nice day all in all and for those of us from up north it's nice to see some snow from time to time. True to form, though, we'll be hitting close to 70 degrees on Thursday so this snow will be history, and soon.

Second, some numbers. These are waterfront residential sales broken out by $100,000 increments (same four counties of the Northern Neck--Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland). I did the research on January 4th, so the actives might have changed a bit, but really hardly at all. If we look these first set of numbers from $0 through $700,000, the majority show an improved market. The improving market is good for all of us.

Pretty stable sales overall. Slightly down in numbers (a grand total of 1) from last year. Median sales price is up considerably in 2016 and median days on market are down to their lowest level within this overall timeframe. There isn't that much inventory in that we have less than a year's worth of it at the moment. Then again we know that property does come off the market (expire) around the first of the year and may come back on around March 1st or so. Can't be sure, but I'm betting we'll see more inventory in a couple of months.

This segment is significantly improved when comparing to 2015 but also when comparing 2016 sales with the whole trend since 2012. There are more than double the number of sales in 2016 as there were in 2012. Also the dollars are more than double when you make that same comparison. Days on market are decidedly down in 2016. Looking very healthy for sales in this segment. Not much inventory either with only 41 on the market and 73 sold in 2016. Less than a year's inventory.

Another improved segment, although not significantly improved in 2016 over 2015. Certainly holding its own.

Another improved segment both in numbers and dollars when we look at 2015 and the previous three years. Not too m any actives either. More days on market in 2016 with a lower median sales price than in 2014 and 2015. Still, healthy numbers of solds in 2016 and better dollars.

This segment saw the numbers drop from 2015. It shows that not all of the market segments are marching upwards. Also, when you get to the higher dollars there aren't as many to purchase (most of the time....this doesn't always apply and you'll see how when I finish this set of charts up) and there aren't that many sold. Not great news here, but not really bad news either. About a year and a half worth of inventory when you look at the actives.

Another improved segment that shows steady advances over the years. 2016 brought us more sales, higher dollars and in comparison to 2015, higher median sales point. 2016's sales did require median days on market of 305, so that was quite a bit. Not too many on the market at this price now and the median days on market for the actives quite low at 172. Looking good here.

I promise to finish this up later this week so that we see how the higher priced segments look. If tomorrow is another snow day, it may be sooner rather than later.   Kathryn Murray, broker