Charting the market: Virginia posts rise in sales

Believe it or not, home sales were up in April, beating April 2007 by 4 percent.

It wasn’t a surge by any means, but it was the first year-over-year sales increase we’ve seen since 2005.

Looking at individual jurisdictions, we see that the rise in sales was very limited in scope.

In fact, April sales were down 20 percent on the Maryland side of the Washington metropolitan area. The 4 percent boost in overall sales came entirely from the Virginia side, where sales were up 35 percent last month.

Most of the credit for the rise in sales belongs to Prince William County.

Recently, I wrote how surprising it was to see March sales go up by 65 percent in Prince William, but in April, sales there were up an astounding 130 percent. This is particularly shocking when you note that sales were down 26 percent in Howard, down 29 percent in Anne Arundel and down 30 percent in Prince George’s County.

As I mentioned last month, prices have fallen harder in Prince William County than in most jurisdictions. The median sales price was down 30 percent in April as compared to April 2007.

Prince William is a community that’s fairly close to the region’s job centers, yet your home shopping dollar buys you more land and more home than it does in Fairfax County, for example.

Of course, some of these buyers could be investors seeking a bargain. Let’s hope they don’t represent too large a percentage of buyers because when the market tanked in the fall of 2005, thousands of investors dumped their properties on the market.

Besides, with homes selling so slowly throughout the region, we already have plenty of homes available for rent.

— Chris Sicks

Contact Chris Sicks by e-mail (csicks@gmail.com).