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Homes sales in Loudoun jump 31 percent
Lower prices are continuing to lure buyers to the housing market.The number of homes sold in Loudoun last month rose 31 percent from January 2008, according to the Dulles Area Association of Realtors, or DAAR. January marked the ninth straight month sales increased from the previous year.
Last month, contracts were finalized on 284 homes in Loudoun, compared to 216 a year earlier. Meanwhile, the median sale price in January stood at $287,950, compared to $370,000 in January 2008.
"Lower prices are definitely enticing more buyers," said Loudoun Realtor Ron Resnik. "Everyone is looking for a bargain."
Resnik also said he is seeing increased interest by investors, who are generally more astute about the market than other buyers.
"If they're looking at the market right now," he said, "then they are thinking the same thing I'm thinking: It's a good time to buy."
In the rest of Northern Virginia, sales are also on the rise. In Fairfax County in January, sales jumped 47 percent from the previous January; meanwhile, median home prices now hover around $396,000, down from $520,000 in 2008, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.
In Prince William County, where homes prices plummeted 41 percent since January 2008, sales soared by 111 percent last month.
According to Jill Landsman, communications director for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, aside from lower prices, the uptick in sales can be attributed to historically low interest rates and sellers being more willing to work with buyers on pricing and on home improvements.
"Sellers are more realistic about the market," she said. "And buyers are more educated."
In Loudoun, there were 30 percent fewer homes on the market in January than a year ago. As for the homes that sold, the process took on average 13 fewer days, according to DAAR.
Contact the reporter jjacks@timespapers.com
This may sound all great. But like in the boom times HOW many of these sales are to investors ready to flip?????? The flippers really skewed the numbers in the boom times and many ended up in foreclosure. Is this another repeat?????
Lets put it this way a Realtor will spin anything into all good. Remember several years ago they said we were just seeing a small correction and how many bought then only to see the value of their home plummet. A real sale is one to the end user such as a family not intending on flipping it now or later. Be careful out there.
Posted by Leej
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I wonder how many of these sales are foreclosure sales to the bank who originally held the loan? When a house is foreclosed on, and no one purchases it at auction, it is recorded as a sale to the bank who held the primary mortgage.
Posted by johnarlington
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