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Local housing prices drop 15 percent
January home sales show prices have fallen off 15.3 percent in past year in Fredericksburg area
Date published: 2/12/2008
BY BILL FREEHLING The housing market's struggles accelerated last month in the Fredericksburg area, with median sales prices hitting three-year lows. The median sales price for a Fredericksburg-area home dropped to $262,500 in January, the lowest since October 2004 and a 15.3 percent decline from January 2007. Area median home sales prices dropped 9.5 percent between December and last month. The data was recently published on the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. Web site. The Fredericksburg area includes the city as well as Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline counties, and part of Westmoreland County. Of the 175 homes sold in the area last month, 128 were in Spotsylvania or Stafford. That means housing conditions in those two populous counties weighed heavily on the area's median prices. Foreclosures, difficult credit, short sales, hesitant buyers and high inventory levels have made it tough for sellers and home builders, as well as local governments that depend on real-estate tax revenues for their budgets. The total sales volume in the area dropped about 43 percent to $52 million between January 2007 and last month. Homes spent an average of 151 days on the market in January, compared with 120 days a year ago. Median sales prices in October 2004 were $255,000, according to data from the Virginia Association of Realtors. Despite the drop, prices are still much higher than at the beginning of the decade, when the median hovered around $140,000. Some localities fared better than others last month. Fredericksburg median sales prices rose 24.7 percent from January 2007 and dropped only slightly from the month before. Median prices in Westmoreland also went up from the year before. The numbers paint perhaps the bleakest picture in Stafford, where median home sales prices last month fell 21.1 percent from January 2007 and 11.5 percent from December. Spotsylvania, Caroline and Fauquier also saw double-digit percentage declines in median sales prices between this January and last. Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Date published: 2/12/2008
Adjusting back to "normal."
(posted by
Al
, Feb. 12, 2008 9:31 am)
For a while homes were appreciating at an alarming rate. Overall, homes are still accruing value, just more slowly and more in line with what was common in the past, before the bubble. One thing in particular about the current market is a real shame though. Just when some hard working folks can finally afford to buy a home the lending requirements get so stiff that only those with super credit will get approved. I’m not advocating irresponsible sub prime loans. I just wish some teachers and working class citizens could get into some of these houses people are trying so hard to sell.
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