Election Year Real Estate

Election Year Real Estate

Virginia Peninsula Real Estate:  Are we better off than we were four years ago?

 

Being it’s an election year there have been a lot of “are we better off than we were four years ago” questions and commentary thrown around.  Mark Cuban wrote a blog that I found mirrored my general thoughts on the topic and you can read it here.  My focus isn’t the economy or country in general though…  I’m interested in real estate.  Not just any real estate, our real estate…  here on the Peninsula.  How is our local real estate market doing now compared to just a few months before President Obama took office? 

Before I get to that question always keep in mind that real estate is local.  Market conditions, common practices, laws and nuances vary greatly even within a particular state.  Your best source for information specific to your area is always going to be local REALTORS that are actively engaged in your local market and are paying attention to local trends.  If you live in Newport News, Hampton, York County or Poquoson (my definition of the Peninsula and the cities / counties I’m using in my statistics) this blog is a great place to find information that is specific to you. 

With that in mind how is the Peninsula real estate market doing compared to four years ago?  Summed up…  not good.  We are worse off in nearly every measurable category.  Here are a few examples: 

*Data from REIN MLS with a close date within 30 days from 9/7 in the given year.  Exception being ’11 where 9/9 is used (from my log).

As you can see from the above chart, the number of houses sold, the average sales price and the average price per square foot have all declined dramatically (20%, 20%, 25%) since 2008.  You could not make a logical argument that our housing market is better than it was in 2008 (Ok, you could make an argument that it's better for buyers but that's not an argument for the housing market being better in my mind). 

It’s not all bad news though.  As everyone knows the US economy fell apart in 2008.  The comparison of how the market is now compared to then can be made, however it doesn’t reflect the current trajectory of our housing prices.  It appears we hit bottom in our local housing market in 2010.  Although it will likely be a long time before we see the prices we saw at the peak in 2007, conditions do seem to be improving.  Prices are up and inventory is decreasing as is noted in my most recent Peninsula Market Update. 

As always if you have questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you. 

 

 

Dan Peters

Associate Broker / REALTOR

Anchor Realty Group
Newport News, VA