Virginia home sales in March were down year-over-year, but other figures suggest the situation may be better than the sales totals suggest.
And sellers seem to be coming away happy: The median sales price in Virginia saw its highest jump in nearly two years in March.
A total of 8,075 properties went to closing during March, according to figures reported April 23 by the Virginia Realtors trade group. That’s down 7.3 percent from a year before, when there were 8,709 transactions for the month.
But it could be largely a matter of timing, as pending sales reported for March were up 5.2 percent to 8,981. Those pending items typically translate into completed sales a month or two after posting.
“Prior to [March’s] dip, sales activity had been trending up in Virginia,” the trade association noted in parsing the data.
“The overall supply of active listings continues to expand . . . [but] the typical February-to-March spring market influx was muted this year, signaling hesitation from potential sellers,” said Ryan Price, chief economist for Virginia Realtors.
That hesitation could be due to concerns that, if one sells a home, one might be giving up a low-interest-rate mortgage and having to find one at rates currently in the vicinity of 7 percent.
Those who are putting homes up for sale are reaping rewards. While the median sales price of $397,000 for homes that went to closing in March was not a record, it was an increase of $27,000 (+7.3%) from a year before, a degree of jump not seen since 2022.
Add up the sales and prices, and total market volume for March essentially was flat. It dropped from $4.03 billion in 2023 to $4 billion in 2024, a difference of less than a percentage point.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All March 2024 figures are preliminary and subject to revision.
