Good economic news continues to roll in, benefiting the NOVA housing market
It’s always important to pay attention when there are positive 180-degree turns in things, or when all-time records for something are set. They tend to be harbingers.
Rasmussen this week, for the first time in the 20 years that they have been taking this particular poll, had more Americans saying that the country was moving in the right direction than those who said it was going in the wrong direction. Setting aside the fact it’s a little sad that for the previous 20 years the plurality of Americans felt things were going the wrong way, this encouraging result dovetails with other indicators that came out this week. The Consumer Confidence index took an enormous spike upwards of over 12 points, the largest monthly increase in over 4 years. The Expectation Index, which measures how consumers see the next 6 months, rose more than at any point since 2011!
All of this is reflected in a continued strong NOVA real estate market. Nationally we are seeing some significant changes and slowdowns, but not so much here. Inventory is down the last 2 weeks from 3,572 to 3,421. This represents a 4% drop but is still a marked improvement from last year when we were at a mere 1,863 units! Late May and early June typically bring a slight drop off so this is normal for this time of year. Sales are up to 731 from 702 the previous week so we are at a healthy 1.3 months supply of homes.
Price wise nationally numbers are flat, but here in NOVA we are up 6% year over year and 12% in the Greater Piedmont area. Our market is not the national market! 37% of listings nationally took a price cut last month. We were at 13% (which is down from 18% 5 weeks ago). Contract cancellations are just over 5% locally compared to 14.3% nationally. All of this makes for a robust and positive market for both buyers and sellers so if you are either of them reach out and we’ll partner with you to get your best outcome!
It’s a good life.
Chris
