What would you think if you saw the following headlines?

1) “Foreclosures up 40% in NOVA over last year!”

2) “Short Sales down 25% in NOVA from last year!”

3) “Mixed trends in the Distressed Sales market in NOVA!”

Here’s the numbers behind each of these: 1) Seven foreclosures available, up from 5 last year.   2) Three Short Sales, down from 4 last year.

Remember, this is all of NOVA, which is inside the Beltway, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier County!   So what to think of these technically accurate but monumentally misleading headlines?  1)  So what.  2) No biggie  3) No it’s not mixed.  There is no appreciable distressed market in this region.

OK.  All of that table pounding is to say that if you want to be properly informed about the LOCAL real estate market you should probably avoid most headlines and blog posts and pick your sources carefully.  Such as yours truly.  Most weeks I give WSJ level market analysis that details what is REALLY going on in our market.  And if you don’t find what you are looking for here, I love getting calls from you asking me what the straight scoop is.

That’s my segue to this week’s report.  Inventory ticked up ever so slightly from 3,640 to 3,667.  Sales in the last week were 641 and 2,067 the previous 30 days (includes the July 4th holiday).  That’s down 37% year over year, and represents a 1.8 months supply of homes on the market.  The median days on the market are up to 19.  So the market is definitely continuing to moderate, still favoring sellers, but opportunities for buyers are picking up and contingencies continue to proliferate.  Rates continue to bounce around like Steph Curry dribbling a basketball, but within the same rage we’ve seen for the last year, settling in this week around 6.625%

The market is hyper local, and price and structure specific.  We saw 2 listings in Fairfax City with 5 and 7 contracts and two in Arlington that got no showings last week-end.

The broader economy continues to pump out good news, with this week’s announcement of a trade deal with Japan and significant contributions to a sovereign wealth fund, and President Trump heads to Scotland to press for a similar deal with the EU (and play a little links golf!  Sounds like fun).

So lots of positive things in the local real estate market for both buyers and sellers.  Please reach out if you are contemplating being one of them, or if you just want to get the lowdown on what’s actually happening out there!

It’s a good life.

Chris