Time to take a look at the sales stats for August in the Charlottesville Area. As I previously posted, the Charlottesville Association of REALTORS did a bit of foreshadowing for us, but now we have a chance to really see what the situation is. New this month, I am going to a graphic display of the data. It has been my experience that looking at the graphs is a much easier and more meaningful way for people to take in the data, rather than just the raw numbers charts I was posting before. Let me know how you like it.
First up, the month of August:
As you can plainly see from the graph, every area was behind the August pace of 2006. No surprise there. The Charlottesville area as a whole was a whopping 30% off of the sales pace set in August 2006. That is quite a big difference for one month. Fluvanna, Charlottesville, and Albemarle all saw sales dip more than 20% for August. Albemarle had the unfortunate distinction of being the biggest loser of the bunch, down 37% compared to last year.
With August being such a rough month, let’s take a look at how it affected the year-to-date totals for the Charlottesville area:
The year-to-date losses in every area have been significant, with the overall effect being a 22% drop in sales for the Charlottesville area in 2007 compared to 2006. No matter how you look at it, that is a lot less sales from one year to another. The median home price is still up 5% for this year in the Charlottesville area. The only one of the areas that has seen a drop in the median price is Albemarle, where the median is down just a hair over 2% in 2007.
It is a very different real estate market here than what has been experienced in the past. The fundamentals remain the same, however. Accurately priced, well prepared homes will sell. The key for sellers is to realize that accurately pricing a home and preparing it to sell are now absolute must-do items.
For buyers, the market has most assuredly swung in their favor. With all of the inventory on the market, buyers must be as prepared as ever to recognize the best deals available, as there are certainly a few to be had.
September will be an interesting month, in that it marks the end of what is usually considered the “selling season” and it will tell is if August was just a bump in the road or a sign of things to come. . .
Technorati Tags: real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, albemarle, fluvanna, greene, nelson, sales statistics, housing
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Consider that Abington Place (200+ units) and Woodlands (300 units) are not in the MLS and historically, similar developments have been included in the MLS. Sales are still down in Albemarle, but the MLS stats are somewhat deflated. I think that Abington began sales (closings) in June? and Woodlands in August.
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I don’t typically approve anonymous posts, but you bring up a good point.
For better or worse, the only significant source of sales statistics is the MLS. On top of that, it is perhaps the most reliable source of sales statistics, since there is no incentive for members to withhold the sales.
The reality is that the tax records would be the absolute most accurate source, but there isn’t an efficient way to scrape the data. If anyone out there can come up with a better or alternative source, I’m certainly game for anything.
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Are the median sale price figures available for posting as well?
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