As we close out yet another “unprecedented” summer, it’s a great time to check in on the market and give you a few numbers, but also a breakdown of my assessment on things.
Here in the Richmond area, we have definitely seen things cool a bit, but it’s by no means ground to a screeching halt.
A few things to note, number wise. (These are numbers for the Richmond Metro area, so the city and surrounding counties)
The average home price has finally dipped a bit month to month, dropping from $429,015 in July to $420,926 in August. If you look at this graph, you’ll see how prices have trended generally over the last year, and it’s been pretty steadily increasing all along, until now. (July was a bit lower than June as well.)
Days on Market has actually gone up in August over July as well, with the average home now staying on the market 15 days instead of 11.
Yep, these are not huge differences month over month, and they are still stronger numbers than last year at this same time. We are very much still in a market with low inventory, and we still have a bit of a backlog of buyers that are still looking for homes.
So what does this all mean if you are one of those buyers still looking in this market? Good news! We are seeing more negotiation for buyers, with people able to actually “make an offer” in some cases, as well as have full home inspection and appraisal clauses in their contracts. This is something we haven’t seen in some time, and as someone who works with a LOT of buyers, I have to say it’s a welcome change!
But what if you’re selling? Have you missed your window? Absolutely not.
As I mentioned before, we still have fairly low inventory, and that means there are still more buyers than sellers, and pretty high demand. Did you miss the window of multiple offers with no contingencies and way over asking? Maybe. We are still seeing plenty of multiple offers, but that’s a bit unpredictable, even in the “hottest” of areas. If you need to sell, though (or just want to sell), it is still a good time, just in a more normal sense of good, rather than totally crazy like it was 6 months ago.
Do you have questions about the market as we head into fall? I’d love to help you get your questions answered, and make sure you have all the information to make any move you need or want to make. Call me!