Owners of more than one in 10 homes on the market across Fairfax County for the week ending July 21 cut their price during the seven-day period, the highest rate in the immediate region.
Fairfax’s rate-cut total of 10.8 percent also was the only one in double digits across the D.C. core, according to figures reported by the Bright MLS multiple-listing services.
For Northern Virginia’s larger jurisdictions, Loudoun County and Alexandria had the next highest rates, at 9.7 percent each, and Arlington stood at 7.1 percent.
Across the region as a whole, counting the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland, the rate of price cuts for the week stood at 8.2 percent, down 1.2 percentage points from a week before but up 0.6 points from a year before. Additionally, 174 active listings were canceled for the week, about 2.3 percent of the total active listings.
Fairfax’s spot at the top would have been surpassed by Prince William County (10.3%), but Bright MLS counts that community in its north-central Virginia reporting area rather than the D.C. region.
Homeowners may be cutting prices to compensate for a dearth of prospective purchasers currently on the hunt.
Leaving out the November-December holiday period, home showings across the Washington region for the week ending July 21 remained among the lowest of the past five years, according to new data.
A total of 16,382 showings were recorded for the week, according to figures reported by Bright MLS, the region’s multiple-listing service. That’s down 24.4 percent from a week before and off 28.3 percent from a year ago, and is vying with the first few weeks of the pandemic in 2020 for lowest outside of the holiday periods.
(Figures represent the District of Columbia; Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties and the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax in Virginia; and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties in Maryland.)
The lack of enthusiasm from buyers can be partially attributed to the time of year, but ongoing affordability issues also are playing a role.
“With mortgage rates hovering around 7 percent and home prices continuing to rise, financing is a growing challenge for buyers, and this is beginning to impact a buyer’s ability to make it across the finish line,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Bright MLS.
For the week, the median listing price of $599,900 was down 3.2 percent from a week before, albeit up 4.3 percent from a year ago. The median listing price has been above $600,000 for most, but not all, weeks since February.
The median sales prices for the week locally were $789,950 in Arlington and $734,737 in Fairfax County, counting all types of residential properties.
If historic norms hold true, median sales prices will bump up heading into September as the market gains a late-in-the-year second wind before cooling again during the holiday season.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All figures are preliminary and subject to revision.
