Though signs of a national recovery remain elusive, the local housing market has seen a slight increase in activity in Albemarle County. In the city, however, the current numbers are still trailing those of a year ago.
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This is what you can get with under $300,000: a detached home in the county (top), where sales are down just over 15 percent, or one of the many condos in Charlottesville, where sales are down 33.3 percent. |
According to data collected by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR)’s President-elect and Realtor Greg Slater, people who buy properties priced under $300,000 are the overwhelming majority of recent buyers.
The CAAR Mid-Year Market Report, which came out last Thursday, highlights a steep fall in prices. According to the report, home prices have dropped 20 percent or more, resulting in a slight increase in activity and sales. The area median home price dropped $22,900 or 8.5 percent, compared to the first half of last year. Albemarle County’s median prices decreased 9.4 percent, while the City of Charlottesville saw a 6.8 percent decline.
Although activity has picked up, the sale numbers still trail those of last year.
During the first six months of 2009, 1131 homes sold in the Charlottesville area, down 28 percent from the same period in 2008—still an improvement from first quarter sales, which were down 34 percent. Albemarle County’s sales were down 15.6 percent (513 sales compared to 433 in 2009), while the City of Charlottesville saw a decline of 35.2 percent (310 sales compared to 210).
Interestingly, transactions under $300,000 are up 24 percent over last year and those over $300,000 are down 21 percent. The report shows that the median home price in Charlottesville is $247,000, while the county median’s $281,440.
For Slater the reasons for this are simple. “We are pretty confident that the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers has been very successful,” he says. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, first-time homebuyers who purchase their principal residence between January 1 and December 1, 2009, are eligible for the $8,000 tax credit.
“The other thing is that interest rates have been really low,” continues Slater. For the people behind the local Buggle Blog, the lack of “move-up” buyers, buyers who sell their homes to buy a bigger and pricier property, is hurting the market. “People are staying put, knowing prices will come down,” they write in an e-mail.
In the city, the reality is much grimmer. In the month of June, there were 56 transactions reported, dropping 19 percent from the same time last year. The year to date numbers are even worse. In 2009, from January to June, 266 contracts were recorded, compared to 353 from 2008. That’s a 25 percent decrease.
The difference between the city and the county is inventory. “The city doesn’t have an inventory of townhomes that’s under $300,000 like the county does,” says Slater. “It’s the urban ring of Albemarle County that has the best inventory of product between $150,000 to $250,000 and that’s why the sales have increased.”
The city, however, has a large inventory of condos whose market and prices are falling steadily. According to the report, in Charlottesville condos and townhomes sales are down 33.3 percent, while in the county, they are up 1.8 percent.
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