LoCo Real Estate Year in Review for 2014

After a strong 2013 which saw sales rise 21% most of us in the real estate industry were expecting a banner year for 2014. It didn’t quite turn out that way, however a strong fourth quarter has us optimistic for a better 2015. Let’s take a look…

Our first chart shows a month by month breakdown of the actual number of homes sold last year. The red bars indicate single family homes (2,972 sales) and the purple bars represent townhomes/condos (2,830 sales). Overall 717 fewer homes changed owners last year, an 11% drop compared to 2013. If it weren’t for a strong October and November the decline would have been worse.

Everyone asks how the market is going, which is code for are home values going up. Well despite the fact that last year was a buyers market home sale prices did go up. The average single family home sold for $593,109, almost 3.5% more than last year, while the average townhome/condo sold for $360,218, a 2.6% hike. Those are the type of gains which are sustainable for the long term. Keep in mind certain areas increase more rapidly than others, if you’re curious about what your home is actually worth just ask.

I can’t stress enough how aware sellers need to be of this stat before they put their home on the market. Nothing causes more angst than a home that sits too long, it’s typically why agents get fired. One of the amazing facts about last year is despite being a buyers market the average days on market dropped 25% to 44! Remember, it generally takes 30-45 days to close after your home has gone under contract. Working backwards that means you should anticipate listing your home at least two and a half months before you want to move.

Here were a couple of other noteworthy stats (if you want the whole picture download this –>LoCoVA-2014

• 36% of homes sold in 10 days or less
• The sold price to original list price was 97.5% (That means if you listed your house for $100,000 you could expect it to sell for $97,500)
• The median sales price was $432,000 (If you listed all the sales in order top to bottom, the median prices falls in the middle)
• Single family homes with at least 4 bedrooms account for 41% of the market

What does all this mean? Expectations aside 2014 was a solid year for the LoCo real estate market. Sellers were happy as prices increased and days on market fell while buyers had plenty of options from which to pick. This makes 4 straight years prices have increased and we don’t see the trend stopping this year.

All signs point to 2015 starting with a bang. Over the last two months we have seen a significant increase in the number of visits to our search pages here on LoCoMusings. Coupled with the highest number of site visits to our listings on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com during that same period we know things are about to boil over.

Live in LoCo and wonder what your home is worth? Fill out this quick form and we will shoot you an email with an up to date market report. Thinking about buying? We’ve got you covered there too, click here to get email updates on listings as they become available.

Cheers,
Mike

If you have any questions about this report, or any other topics about LoCo, just ask!