It’s cold outside, but the economy is heating up!
There is a lot of good economic news out there, much of which will redound to the benefit of the NOVA real estate market. First up, the economy added a very strong 130,000 jobs in January. This is more than double what was anticipated! Secondly, the ISM Manufacturing Index made a huge jump of 4.7 points to 52.6. Anything over 50 means an expansion of manufacturing, the first since August of 2022. I’d expect further growth in this area as the tax incentives to expand in the Big Beautiful Bill continue to take root. The DOW crested 50,000, and the inflation rate fell from 2.7% to 2.4%. Mortgage rates dropped to a 3-year low! The downside is that all of this good economic news will likely put the brakes on the Fed’s motivations to engage in any rate cuts over the next couple of months.
So how are these, and other factors, translating into the NOVA real estate market? Inventory continues to fluctuate within a narrow range of about 1,800-2,000 homes in the NOVA area. With sales picking up after the short term shock of the snow that takes us to about a 1.8 months supply of homes on the market, down from 2 just a couple of weeks ago. We are seeing tons of activity and many properties selling quickly and with multiple offers. Despite this prices aren’t necessarily getting pushed up much. Some properties are also sitting due to overpricing, poor marketing or lack of condition. Anecdotally with me personally and with our team hear at Gateway we seem to have a lot of inventory preparing to enter the market in April for the Spring. We’ll see if that holds region wide.
It’s a good life.
Chris
