The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® reports on October 2011 home sales activity for Northern Virginia. The complete report can be seen here.
A total of 1,134 homes sold in October 2011, about 12 percent fewer than the 1,288 home sales in October 2010.
Active listings are down by about 12 percent from last year, with 4,553 active listings in October, compared with 5,185 homes available in October 2010. The average days on market (DOM) for homes in October 2011 was up by about 8 percent to 65 days, compared with 60 days in October 2010.
Sales prices remained steady compared with this time last year. The average sale price in October was up by less than 1 percent from October 2010, at $469,454, compared with last October’s average of $470,391.
The median price of homes sold in Northern Virginia was $395,000, 1 percent lower than the October 2010 median of $399,000.
Declining Interest Rates Spur Mortgage Applications
“Mortgage applications increased 10.3 percent this past week as more homeowners refinanced existing mortgages or took advantage of lower interest rates to buy homes,” states Kerri Panchuk in a Nov. 9, 2011 HousingWire.com report.
A response to renewed turmoil in Europe led to a drop in 30-year mortgage rates to their second lowest level of the year, according to Mike Fratantoni, the Mortgage Bankers Association vice president of research and economics. “Refinance applications jumped more than 12 percent to their highest level in a month and some lenders experienced even larger increases. As has been the case all year, many refinance applicants are opting to deleverage by choosing 15-year mortgages,” Fratantoni said.
NAR Q3 Data Show Steady D.C. Metro Median Sales Price
The third-quarter median sales price of existing single-family homes in the D.C. metropolitan area (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV) was $340,900 – unchanged from the second-quarter median, as reported by the National Association of Realtors® in its November 9 release. This represents an increase of less than one percent over the 2010 Q3 number.
Nationwide, metro area values generally were lower than those from one year ago.