Mr Williamsburg, Revolutionary ideas on real estate!Hampton Roads Virginia

The residential real estate market in Hampton Roads, VA. continued to post year-over-year settled sales gains as the inventory of homes for sale fell. The positive trends emphasized in August again showed promise with the number of under contract sales rising. However, the distressed homes market continued affecting the overall housing market as the median sales price stayed lower when compared to September 2010

Real Estate Information Network (REIN) reported that 943 existing homes sold last month, down 12.7 percent from August but up 13.1 percent from September 2010. It was the third consecutive month of year-over-year sales volume increases.

Across South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula, sales of foreclosed homes remained high. Nearly 1 in every 3 homes sold in September – 31.6 percent – were in foreclosure or sold for less than what the homeowner owed. That’s up from 27.3 percent a year ago, according to the report.  However, the number of distressed homes fell by the largest number of units, 476 homes, since December 2010 when the number of distressed homes dropped 901 units from November. The decrease in the number of distressed homes for sale is a promising sign for the region’s housing market and if the distressed inventory continues to decline overall the Hampton Roads real estate market should stabilize.

The total  number of homes for sale across Hampton Roads fell to its lowest point since January 2010. Last month, 12,894 homes were on the market, down 3.6 percent from August and 16.6 percent from a year ago.

At the current sales pace, it would take a little less than nine months to sell the inventory. Six months of inventory is considered normal.

All seven major Hampton Roads cities showed declines in the number of homes for sale in September 2011 with Norfolk and Virginia Beach each dropping by more than 20% when compared to the inventory level in September 2010.

Residential settled sales for the region climbed 20.5% on a year-over-year basis in September 2011. The increase is the largest gain since January 2011 when the measured rise was 24%. Six of the seven major cities in the area experienced increases between 19% and 58%. Virginia Beach was the only city to have a decline in the number of settled sales as it was down 5.8%. 

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