Click here to download November's Market Update charts.



November, 2011 was similar to October in many ways for our local real estate market. For the month, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (HRAR MLS) reported 82 closed residential transactions, just slightly behind October’s 84 closings. Through the first 11 months of the year, total residential sales are 8 units ahead of the 2010 total at November 30. This is encouraging and gives us some hope that 2011 will be the first year since 2005 in which the HRAR MLS records more residential sales than in the previous year.

While the slowish but steady sales activity is a positive sign, prices continue to fall at an increasing rate. The average sales price of homes sold in the past 12 months dropped $1,274 in November to $187,147 and the median sales price for those homes fell $2,000 to $165,000. Of the 14% decline in average sales price over the past 3 years, a 6.37% drop (45% of the total 3 year loss) has occurred in the past 12 months:

Three year change:    Average Price down -14.00%, Median Price down -13.16%
One year change:       Average Price down -6.37%,   Median Price down -5.74%

Residential inventory has declined in both the City and County, a good sign for sellers. The drop in homes available for sale was particularly large in Rockingham County with 39 fewer homes for sale (on average) during November than October, a 7.5% reduction.

Based upon the consistent buyer activity through November (118 contracts vs. 120 in October) it appears 2011 will finish at a pace which is similar to what we have experienced for the past couple of months. Conditions for buyers remain fantastic but until buyers begin to see interest rates and/or prices increasing and develop a greater sense of urgency, we believe the real estate market will continue at its current pace. Industry predictions indicate many more distressed properties will be released to the market over the next 12 – 18 months, and government influence in the financial markets will keep interest rates from rising so….it appears the current market pace is with us for awhile.

Click here to view or download our Market Activity Charts for November, 2011.

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