The first quarter of 2007 has turned out to be much better than the first quarter of 2006 from one particular standpoint - Listings. The number of existing homes that were put up for sale in the first three months of this year was down 26% from 2006. That represents 932 less homes added to the inventory. This one factor has helped stabilize the market prices over the last 3 months.
Homes sales or homes that went under contract, during the first quarter of 2007 were essentially flat versus year ago sales. There were 1370 sales in 2007 compared to 1408 in 2006. This was a decrease of less than 3%.
The average sales price of a home in Loudoun County during the Q1 was down 8% over the prior year Q1. This represented a loss of approximately $41,600 on the average home with the average price being $478, 061 in Q1 2007.
One bright spot in the analysis of the first quarter of 2007 is the average sales price versus the previous quarter, Q4 2006. The average sales price was up 1.5% from $470,837. This was an increase of $7224 and was the first quarter to quarter increase since Q3 2005.
With sales flat and prices holding firm the one area of uncertainty continues to be listings going into the spring market. In 2006 new listings outpaced sales by a 4 to 1 ratio and created a very unbalanced market that drove prices down. Although we shouldn't see such a lopsided ratio this year, listings still continue to outpace sales and will continue to hold prices flat.
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