Realtors’ Rally Toward More Positive Figures Expected to Continue in 2021
Lower interest rates, higher sales prices, more homes sold, and fewer days of listings on the market compared to 2019 propelled the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® (NVAR) housing market to the driver’s seat of the region’s economy. “Even with the downturn experienced in the beginning weeks of the pandemic, the NVAR region housing market had an incredibly strong year,” according to NVAR’s president, Derrick Swaak.
NVAR covers the counties of Fairfax and Arlington, as well as the cities of Arlington, Fairfax, and Falls Church. In 2020, the average home price and median sales price in the region both rose by 9% above the 2019 figures. “We closed 2020 with a dollar sales volume that was 13% higher than last year, with $15.3 billion sold, compared to around $13 billion in 2019,” added Swaak.
These achievements were made possible largely by the unrelenting dedication of realtors, as stated by NVAR CEO Ryan McLaughlin, “Notwithstanding the uncertainty we experienced in 2020, our members rallied to help people in Northern Virginia safely buy and sell homes.” McLaughlin credited the resilience of NVAR Realtors® in representing their clients under difficult circumstances and lobbying “on behalf of home buyers and sellers to ensure that their critical transactions could be completed.”
The unprecedented performance in December, with the total number of homes available being 19% higher than in 2019 and new pending contracts 45% above 2019, is an indicator of the NVAR housing market’s upward trajectory through 2021. Additionally, increased December 2020 inventory was observed in the Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon, and Clifton.
Swaak’s forecast for the first quarter of 2021: “With mortgage rates at historic lows, the stock market remaining strong, and buyer demand unabated, we don’t foresee any conditions that would dampen the strong market.” In January 2021, true to Swaak’s prediction, the demand for single-family homes increased, as did the supply of high-rise and luxury condos.
McLaughlin agrees. “We don’t expect market activity to decrease significantly anytime soon,” he explains, “as more people in our region receive the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s likely that buyers and sellers who were staying out of the market in 2020 will have confidence that the time is right for them, too.”
Already, trends in January 2021 are setting records. Consider these statistics comparing NVAR’s performance to the same period the previous year:
A total of 1,368 Northern Virginia homes were sold, representing a 28.5% increase from the 1,065 total homes sold in January 2020.
The number of active listings was 1,585, up 7% from the previous year. These available homes were on the market for an average of 25 days, falling by 24% from 33 days in January 2020.
New listings in January 2021 totaled 1,877, a 14.5% increase from the 1,639 total new listings during the same period of 2020.
The average home sales price also increased by 1.73% from $642,565 in January 2020 to $653,681 in January 2021. Similarly, the median sales price rose by 6.44% from $520,000 in January 2020 to $553,500 in January 2021.
NorthernVirginiaHome Pro is a proud member of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® (NVAR). We uphold the business ethics of NVAR and support the association’s effort to revive the economy in the Northern Virginia region.