Column by Scott Rogers
www.harrisonburghousingmarket.com
With 2009 having come to a close, I have published my first market report of 2010.
Home sales finished out at a respectable level in 2009, showing only a 13 percent decline from 2008 as compared to the 25 percent decline in sales pace seen between 2007 and 2008. The area’s median price, however, slipped 5 percent – the first decline in full year median values that we’ve seen in this troubled market.
This past month’s sales (67 in December) can’t be used to predict too much in our market, because December sales were at roughly the same levels in 2007 and 2008 – with significantly different months and years following those similar December values.
That being said, five of 12 months in 2009 showed home sales at, above, or very close to the corresponding month in 2008. This may be an indication that the declining pace of home sales seen since 2005 may finally be slowing.
The local year over year housing inventory has declined slightly, from 828 homes at the end of last December, to 792 homes for sale at the end of this December. That small decline, however, is still not enough of a decline to help the significant oversupply of homes for sale we have been experiencing for over a year.
Dive into the details by reading the entire January 2010 Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Real Estate Market Report. Click the image below to download the PDF.
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