Constrained largely by inventory issues, Virginia’s first-quarter home sales trailed the same period in 2021, but prices kept on moving up.
A total of 27,669 properties went to closing statewide in the January-February-March 2022 period, according to figures reported by the Virginia Realtors trade organization. That’s down 7.7 percent from the 29,992 transactions during the first quarter of 2021.
Sales were held back by a dearth of available properties on the market, but “there are signs that supply may be expanding slightly,” said Ryan Price, chief economist for the trade organization.
“While inventory is down 12.8 percent compared to March 2021, the number of active listings increased by 12.1 percent between February and March,” Price said.
But don’t take things too far: At the end of March, there was a 1.1-month supply of homes on the market, down from 1.8 months a year before. For a market to be considered truly balanced between buyers and sellers requires about three months’ worth of inventory in the market.
Sales prices kept rising, with the median sales price of $354,999 statewide up 9.2 percent – or just under $30,000 – from a year before. As a result, total sales volume for the quarter was up 1.6 percent to $12.3 billion.
Homes that went to closing during the quarterly period spent an average 28 days between listing and ratified sales contract, an improvement (from the perspective of sellers) from 34 days a year before.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All current figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.