Recent headlines have speculated that we’re on the verge of another housing bubble. Numbers from Virginia REALTORS® seem to indicate otherwise.
According to the January 2020 Home Sales Report released by Virginia REALTORS® on Monday, strong economic fundamentals and low inventory across the Commonwealth are pushing a steady rise in home sale prices statewide.
In January, the statewide median home sales price was $280,000, an increase of nearly 2 percent over January 2019. At the state level, home prices have been increasing steadily since 2012, reflecting strong demand and declining inventories.
“While home prices have reached the peak levels seen during the height of the housing boom, there is no evidence of a bubble because price appreciation now is much more modest,” says Virginia REALTORS® Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant, PhD. “Recently, Virginia has been experiencing modest and steady annual price growth of 2 to 4 percent. Back in 2004 to 2006, we were seeing 16 to 20 percent annual price growth. During the housing market boom of the middle of the last decade, the double-digit price growth was driven by other factors–particularly loose lending requirements–which are not present now.”
The growing lack of available homes has created a challenging market for buyers. Virginia’s inventory of homes for sale has shrunk considerably over the past five years. At the end of January, there was a total of 28,538 active listings across the Commonwealth, more than 10,000 fewer than a year ago, a decline of 26.4 percent.
The available inventory at the end of January is just about 60% of the level available four years ago, at the end of January 2016.
The fastest price growth between January 2019 and January 2020 was in the Southwest (+11.6 percent) and West Central (+10.7 percent) regions. There was also robust price growth in the Hampton Roads region, where the median sales price increased by 7.9 percent.
With Virginia experiencing steady job growth and strong economic fundamentals, Sturtevant says, “I don’t think we would be seeing so much speculation about a housing bubble in this current market if we were not still reflecting back on what happened 15 years ago. But this is a very different market now.”
The Virginia Home Sales Report is published by the Virginia REALTORS®. Click here to view the full January 2020 Home Sales Report. Current and past reports are available to members, media, and real estate related-industries through the organization’s website.
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