Sales Up, Prices Down in Loudoun County Real Estate Market

Sales continue to be strong in Loudoun County through the just completed third quarter. 1484 homes went under contract during the three months ended September 30th. This is a huge 67% increase over the same time period last year.

However, prices continue to take a beating with the average sales price down $133,000 to $354,000 during the quarter.

The two charts below show the contrast that these two statistics represent here in Loudoun County.

Comments

[Common Sense]

It's interesting how more realistic pricing causes an increase in sales ... it's almost like common sense :) Townhouse and Condo prices seem to be falling into more reasonable ranges, however single family home prices still seem to be "living" in 2005. There is no doubt that the increased number of foreclosed/distressed properties on the market during the first three quarters of this year compared to last year is inflating the over-all sales numbers (but hey, a sale is a sale).

Speaking as a prospective Loudoun home buyer who found no difficulty being pre-qualified during this "credit crisis" I will be waiting this market out for a while. I have zero doubt that housing prices in Loudoun have not hit bottom yet. There are still MANY people with bad home loans (interest only/balloon payment) and some of those will not reset/come due for another 1-4 years. This county is going to be dealing with foreclosures for quite some time to come.

[Sales Meeting]

It still seems strange to me to see prices falling in a market where sales are up. These must be mostly people that have to sell.