The number of homes under contract sales grew by 7% in March this year when compared to the same time last year. Chesapeake and Hampton both saw 20% increases in year-over-year gains. The overall increase in under contract sales suggests an increase in future closed sales over the next few months, though not a guarantee.
Once again Hampton Roads’ residential real estate revealed optimistic statistics that point to a recovering market. The number of homes listed for sale in March 2012 decreased double digits, while the number of homes under contract experienced year-over-year increases. Residential settled sales slightly decreased when compared to March 2011, but increased significantly when compared with the previous month.
Residential active listings were down 19% when compared to the same time last year. All seven of the major cities (Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach) saw decreases in the number of homes for sale, with Portsmouth and Norfolk experiencing the largest year-over year percentage declines at 27% and 26% respectively. This drop in active listings resulted in the supply of inventory being reduced from 9.93 months in March 2011 to 7.57 months in 2012. A balanced market is considered to be a 6 to 8 month’s supply of homes.
Residential settled sales fell a marginal 3.6% in March 2012 when compared to March 2011. The last time there was a year-over-year drop in residential settled sales was June 2011 when sales declined 9.6% from June 2010. Hampton was the only major city not to show a decline, with an encouraging 19% increase. Portsmouth and Chesapeake showed the largest declines in residential settled sales when compared to last year at 25% and 12% respectively. Although residential settled sales waned in March, the median sales price increased to $185,000. This is a .54% increase from March 2011’s median sales price of $184,000, and is the first year-over-year increase in over 16 months, since November 2010’s median sale price was up 1.24% when compared to November 2009.
The distressed homes market, those that are bank owned or short sales, have shown slight signs of improvement for March 2012. Distressed homes comprised 33.53% of the settled sales in March 2012, the lowest proportion of distressed homes as settled sales so far this year. Distressed homes as a percentage of settled sales have dropped 9.27% since March 2011. The percentage of distressed homes that make up homes for sale is 25.73%, a 3.56% increase since March of 2011. Despite the slight increase year-over-year, this number has remained essentially flat for the past six months, ranging from 24-26%.
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This post was authored by local resident and REALTOR, John Womeldorf. John is known around town as Mr. Williamsburg, for both his extensive knowledge of the Williamsburg/ Hampton Roads area and and his expertise in the local real estate market. His websites, WilliamsburgsRealEstate.com and Mr Williamsburg.com were created as a resource for folks who are exploring a move to Williamsburg, VA , Hampton Roads VA and the surrounding areas of the Virginia Peninsula. Here you can search homes for sale , active adult communities, 55+ communities, condos and townhomes , foreclosures/ REO, land, building lots, commercial property in Williamsburg , Yorktown, New Kent, Gloucester, Poquoson as well as the surrounding areas of Hampton Roads, Virginia I look forward to serving your real estate needs! Best, John |
psst … I’m a Realtor! Thanks for stopping by my website. I would love to help you find your dream home and community in the Hampton Roads or Williamsburg areas of Virginia or to sell your existing home.Filed under: hampton roads, real estate |
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