Another month, and another post about the market shifting.
If you pay any attention at all to the national news, you’ve likely heard all sorts of stories of how prices have plummeted as rates have skyrocketed, but here in the Richmond Area, things are a little less… well, dramatic.
Has the market shifted here? Yes. It has. The days of 20 offers in a weekend packed with showings, appraisal and inspection waivers, and buyers giving up their first born to “win” the house are largely over. However- it’s important to remember that we are STILL in an inventory shortage. That means quite simply that there are more buyers than there are homes to buy. So, while we may not see as many offers in multiple offer situations, we are still seeing some multiple offer situations.
In fact, the average sales price in the Metro Richmond Area was $423,262 in October, up from $403,512 in September, and up almost 9% from this time last year. While we are seeing a bit of a slow down, we’re certainly not saying SLOW.
The average number of days on the market for listings was 16 in October, and that’s down from 17 in September. Not a huge difference, but also not indicative of a serious slowdown. Last year this time, the average days on market for homes was only 14, though, so homes are indeed taking a bit longer to sell.
Another data point that shows trends in the market is the percentage of sales price to list price. In October, that number was 101.2%. That means homes were *on average* selling for 101.2% of the asking price. That’s definitely down from its peak a few months ago of 107.5%.
Obviously, rates are up, and that has caused some buyers to adjust their price range and/or time frame for buying, but there are still lots of buyers out there, and we’re definitely still mostly in a sellers market. To note, a balanced market is 6 months of inventory, and we are still (as of October ’22) at only 1 month of inventory. That’s a good bit away from a balanced market.
Do you have questions regarding buying or selling? Real estate is not only local, but sometimes hyper local. Knowing what the market is in your county, neighborhood, and even specific to the home you’re selling or looking to buy can make all the difference.