Is it a lack of inventory, a lack of buyer interest, or maybe that pent-up demand was satiated in previous months? Or maybe a combination?
Whatever the cause, Arlington saw a 14-percent drop in year-over-year home sales in May, according to new data, even as average prices kept on rising.
A total of 231 properties went to closing in May, down from 268 a year before, according to figures reported June 11 by Bright MLS, based on data from MarketStats by ShowingTime.
The decline in May simply might have been a timing issue, as April year-over-year home sales were up nearly 14 percent. But there is reason for some concern, as the number of pending sales in the pipeline countywide currently are off about 21 percent from last year’s figures.
The average sales price of all properties that went to closing during the month was an eye-opening $922,587, up 11.2 percent – in part because the percentage of single-family homes in May 2024 (38.5% of total sales) was higher than in May 2023 (34.3%).
Average sales prices were actually down slightly (0.1% to $569,537) in the attached segment (townhouses, rowhouses and condominiums), but were up 12.1% to $1,485,880 among single-family homes. That seems to suggest that rumors of the Arlington single-family market’s hitting a ceiling were at the very least premature.
Add up the sales and prices, and May’s total volume of $210.5 million was down 4 percent from $219.3 million a year ago.
Homes that sold in May in Arlington spent an average of 16 days on the market between listing and ratified sales contract, down a day from a year ago. Homes garnered 101.1 percent of listing price, up from 100.6 percent a year before.
With 322 active listings on the market at the end of the month, inventory was up nearly 18 percent from a year earlier.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All May 2023 figures are preliminary and subject to revision.
