There are some signs that the lack of home inventory across the region may ease this fall, but portions of McLean, Vienna, Oakton and Great Falls each saw such limited supply in August that many prospective home-buyers didn’t even bother jumping in.
That’s the conclusion of the latest Bright MLS T3 Home-Demand Index, released Sept. 12, which pointed to limited inventory in McLean’s 22101 and 22102 ZIP codes along wiith Oakton’s 22124, Vienna’s 22182 and Great Falls’s 22066.
The index uses a variety of data points and a proprietary formula to settle on a monthly score for buyer interest all the way down to the ZIP-code level. It is a forward-looking counterpart to rear-view-mirror monthly sales data.
The open-ended scorecard gauges buyer-interest conditions as High with any total above 130; Moderate from 110-129; Steady from 90-109; and Slow from 70-89. Any score less than 70 suggests the market of available homes is limited.
As a whole, Fairfax checked in with a score of 79. But in many areas of the GazetteLeader coverage area, scores were lower:
• 22027 (Dunn Loring) scored 77.
• 22102 (McLean) totaled 64.
• 22101 (McLean) received 48.
• 22124 (Oakton) clocked in a 44.
• 22182 (Vienna) garnered 40.
• 22066 (Great Falls) tallied 35.
Other areas, however, outperformed the county average, with Vienna’s 22180 at 93 and neighboring 22181 at 83.
Across the region, Arlington’s score of 126 was tops for the month, followed by Falls Church (117) and Alexandria (104).
Regionally, the overall score of 75 for August was down from 84 a month before and 101 a year ago.
“The latest decrease in the index was likely the result of the cumulative impact of higher mortgage rates and an ongoing shortage of homes for sale, both of which contributed to the lower index reading in August,” Bright MLS analysts said.
“The index for luxury condos decreased the most, falling 19 percent to 109, but was still higher than any other segment despite the decrease over the month,” they nored.
For the year to date, home-buyer activity regionally peaked in April.
Among other localities in the August data: Prince George’s County tallied 83, Loudoun County 72, the District of Columbia 71 Fairfax city 70, Montgomery County 65 and Frederick County 55.
For full data all the way to the ZIP-code level across the region, see the Website at homedemandindex.com.
