You take your wins where you can find them in today’s real-estate market. And for Northern Virginia, there was a bright spot or two in the June sales data.
Month-over-month sales across the local region were up 3.6 percent from May to June, while at the national level, month-over-month sales dipped 3.3 percent.
That’s according to new figures from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, whose coverage area includes Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.
Northern Virginia’s month-over-month increase is in line with historical cyclical norms across the area, as sales in the region typically bottom out in December or January, ris through June or July, then fall through the remainder of the year before starting the cycle all over again.
And while up month-over-month, the 1,887 homes that went to closing across the region in June represented a decline of nearly 16 percent from a year before, a period when the market was transitioning from the hot-hot-hot environment early in 2022 to the cooler results later in the year.
Prices, however, remain on the rise, with the median Northern Virginia sales price of $717,999 in June up just a hair under 5 percent from a year before. Nationally, June’s median home price was $410,200, down slightly from June 2022, according to the National Association of Realtors.
“Each housing market is unique, and Northern Virginia is picking up steam faster than the national market, with more sales growth month over month,” Northern Virginia Association of Realtors’ CEO Ryan McLaughlin said in parsing the June sales data.
He pointed to the region’s strong jobs picture as underpinning the homes market.
“We expect demand will remain strong, and like nationally, buyers may expect to have a few more options in months to come,” McLaughlin said, serving up the hope that more homeowners will be enticed into putting their properties onto the market, alleviating the current inventory crunch.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All June 2023 figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.
