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Harrisonburg Real Estate Market Report - April, 2014

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Kline May Realty

Click here to download Market Update charts for April 2014.




Well, here we are four months into a year that we thought would see a continued strengthening of the local real estate market and we find sales are not only down compared to last year, they are down significantly. Year to date at the end of April, 233 residential properties had sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County - 51 fewer than last year’s total of 284. Residential sales in the month of April totaled 75, also far below the 103 sales we saw last April. So what’s going on? Have our hopes for a strengthening market been dashed? I don’t think so. Despite the slow start, I believe we will see a strengthening market throughout the year. April’s total of 107 properties going under contract is an encouraging number, and during the first 10 days of May 45 properties went under contract, setting the pace for a monthly total of 135. Further, inventory is finally rebounding. In my opinion, one of the factors in our slow start to the year has to do with the extremely low inventory, especially in certain parts of the market. Let’s look at one example…

The multiple listing service (the database of listings and sales) local Realtors use divides our area into quadrants with Interstate 81 as the North/South axis and Route 33 as the East/West axis. The southwest portion of the County (south of Rt. 33 and west of I-81) is down over 50% in sales from last year. Digging into the numbers a bit we see a dramatic difference in sales above $225,000. During the first four months of 2013 there were 14 sales over $225,000, and this year there were only 3. Why? Lack of inventory during the early part of the year. In the past 45 days, however, 14 new listings priced at $225,000 or higher came on the market and guess what? From April 1 – May 10 of this year 10 properties priced at $225,000 or higher went under contract! The buyers are out there, they just haven’t had good choices until recently.

The pricing trends continue to be positive, with the 12 month average of $199,175 slightly over 3% higher than last year and the median sales price of $178,500 is 2% higher than last year and the highest it has been in three years. The one and three year trends are:

Three year change:    Average Price down -1.06%, Median Price up +1.71%
One year change:       Average Price up +3.08%, Median Price up +2.00%

Even though inventory is beginning to correct itself and Buyers have more good choices now than earlier in the year, I still believe we will see fairly intense competition for homes this summer. This will likely push prices up a bit more, while maintaining balanced market. Can the market recover and eventually pass last year’s numbers? I don’t know, but I do not expect to finish the year 18% down, as we are now.

Click here to view or download our Market Activity Charts for April 2014.

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Comments (1)

Elite Home Sales Team
Elite Home Sales Team OC - Corona del Mar, CA
A Tenacious and Skilled Real Estate Team

We all across the nation would like the strengthening of the market. I hope it continues.

May 12, 2014 01:59 AM