Regional homebuyers and homesellers have had their eyes especially fixed on Northern Virginia’s real estate market since COVID-19 made its way into the state. “Will I still be able to find a home?” some wondered, while others were thinking, “How do I show my house to buyers during social distancing?” In short, the market had to shift this year, and now we’re seeing the direct impacts of COVID-19 on the housing market.
Long & Foster recently released its Long & Foster Christie’s International Real Estate 2020 Mid-Year Capital Region Market Report, which stated that while fewer homes were sold during the first half of 2020, prices remained steady in the region.
And, compared to the same period in 2019, the first half of 2020 saw housing inventory tighten, falling 43% by the end of June, with fewer homes going on the market. Why? Because buyers and sellers stayed home during the worst of Northern Virginia’s quarantine and delayed plans to move as the pandemic spread across the country. In total, the number of home sales fell 13% overall, and luxury home sales were down by 7%, with the high-end market seeing an 18% reduction in homes available to buyers.
“As we’ve moved out of the COVID-19 lockdown, we’ve seen more buyers out, wishing to take advantage of historically low interest rates. Those shoppers are competing for limited inventory in an already tight market,” said Jeffrey S. Detwiler, president and CEO of The Long & Foster Companies in a recent press release. “COVID-19 and the upcoming elections will likely affect the housing market toward the end of 2020, but we remain cautiously optimistic.”
In addition to spotting major trends in the region’s housing market, the report also spotlights individual neighborhoods, summarizes the local luxury market by home type (single family, townhome, etc.) sold in individual neighborhoods and provides further in-depth analysis of the residential market by neighborhood. View the full report here.
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