How is the 2015 Real Estate Market (and what’s coming up)?

July 24 by Marina Brito

Have you heard?

Have you heard? The Fairfax County Real Estate Market is HOT!

The Real Estate Market in Fairfax County (and all of Northern Virginia) is H.O.T!

This year, we have been busier than we’ve ever been in the 13 years that we’ve been selling Real Estate in Northern Virginia.

So before writing this update, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the official statistics from our Multiple Listing Service to confirm my suspicions.

And WOW! The stats knocked my socks off.

Let me show you why the market is steaming hot:

This first graph represents the Closed Sales for this past June of 2015

Closed Sales Fairfax County Real Estate June 2015

Did you notice the gauge at “full steam ahead”?

According to this graph, the 5-yr average of units closed for June is 1,641. This past June, there were 220 more units closed than the average.

That’s a 13% increase over the 5-yr average!

So then I thought…”maybe it was just the usual spring peak. Let’s see how the next month looks”.

The New Pendings gauge is also way above the 5-yr average

New Pendings Fairfax County Real Estate – June 2015

Having the number of New Pendings (i.e. “Under Contract”) be high means that the market didn’t slow down at the end of Spring and that we can expect to have a pretty strong Closed Sales figure for July as well.

This has made for a wonderful season of buying and selling homes

Overall it has been one of the most enjoyable years to buy and sell real estate because while there has been a lot of buyer activity, there has also been a good amount of listings to choose from.

And while there has been some healthy competition for homes, thankfully, it hasn’t been the maddening experience of multiple bidding wars of some years past, which buyers dreaded – and sellers did too.

This year, many sellers have sold well and quickly, and many buyers have found beautiful homes at good prices, and everyone walked away happy with what they were able to negotiate.

But what’s going to happen in the summer months and the rest of the year?

Buyer’s Market – coming up!

Active Listings Fairfax County Real Estate – June 2015

Looking at the graph of active listings, I expect that as the number of buyers slows down (as it usually does beyond the Spring months), we’re going to have a slant toward a buyer’s market – because we have a lot more active listings than the 5-yr average.

In this case, it’s a 30% increase in Active Listings, and we’ve accumulated 3.7 months of supply (vs. the 3 month average over the past 5 years).

This is great news for buyers going into the “slow” time of year

Months of Supply Fairfax County Real Estate June 2015

For buyers, there will be lots of homes to choose from and at the best terms possible.

As a seller, it’ll be important to have a good strategy

Sellers, fear not: homes will sell… but only the ones that are priced “just right”.

Bottomline: The market is sizzling hot

The stats show us that we’re having the best market conditions of -at least- the last 5 years.

The next few months will also be hot, and while there will still be lots of activity for the rest of the year, we expect a shift toward a buyer’s market.