August 2020 Briggman Market Watch: House 
inventory rose in Arlington, VA – especially for condos
Real estate market in Arlington, VA is continuing to shift.
First things first – the basics of any market is supply and demand. As you can see in the chart below the inventory is increasing – especially condos. We’ve had 1 or less month of inventory of homes since Amazon’s announcement in November, 2018 and for the first time ever we are getting to close 2 months, and condo inventory is the highest it’s been since about 3 years ago (it’s marked in yellow in the chart). So if you have a condo to sell – this is not the best news. Price drops are likely.
Number of active listings in Arlington, VA increased by 75% in comparison to last August – from 226 to 397! Buyers should be dancing around! New contracts are up by 50% (from 196 to 296).
Interest rates are still at their lowest in history – hovering around 3% – making purchasing extremely attractive to buyers. Average Sales price in Arlington was up 11% from August 2019 from $620,000 to $688,000, but down from July $722,500.
What about pandemic? Are sellers holding off because of it? Are buyers hesitant to look? I’m sure some people are, but most of us have gotten used to this new world and are willing to take some risks to improve our living situations. Many sellers have been moving out before putting their homes on the market, everyone is using masks and avoiding overlapping showing appointments, in-person open houses are rare, but starting to pop up.
So what does it all mean?
Increasing inventory levels means that the market is stabilizing and looking for real estate won’t feel like looking for toilet paper in April any more! And it’s especially relevant to condo sales – condos won’t be flying off the shelves they way they were – you will actually have to present them well and convince buyers that they are a reasonable investment – even during pandemic. These are overall trends and every neighborhood and condo building have their own supply and demand chart. That’s why you need an expert!
Thinking about buying or selling? Contact me and we can talk about what makes sense for your situation!
