BY BILL FREEHLING
The April 30 federal tax credit deadline appears to have driven a flurry of contracts being signed on houses last month in the Fredericksburg area, according to data released yesterday.
There were 685 pending housing sales in April in the Fredericksburg area, the most since July 2005--which was during the peak of the housing boom. Pending sales include contracts and contingents.
Pending sales were up 13 percent in the area compared with April 2009, according to the data from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.
First-time home buyers were able to get an $8,000 federal tax credit if they signed a contract on a house before April 30. There were also credits available to certain existing homeowners who bought another home. The sales must close by June 30 to qualify for the credit.
Area median sales prices also rebounded to $207,000 in April, up 8 percent from a year ago. The median was in the same general price range as it has been since about the beginning of 2009.
There were 351 sales completed last month in the Fredericksburg area--the city and Caroline, King George, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. That's up about 4 percent from a year ago. Sales activity is likely to increase in the next couple of months if the pending deals come through as planned. About 31 percent of the April sales were foreclosures.
The number of homes newly listed in the area picked up in April. There was about a seven-month supply of homes on the market at the end of the month based on April's sales activity.
Houses spent an average of 76 days on the market compared with 110 a year ago. The average sales price was 92.5 percent of the list price, up from 87 percent a year ago. Government-backed financing is still being used for the majority of deals.
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
LOCALITIES
(April '10)
(March '10)
(April '09)
Fredericksburg city
$222,000
$218,750
$210,000
Stafford
$240,975
$226,889
$219,900
Spotsylvania
$191,750
$185,000
$174,900
Caroline
$149,900
$144,000
$126,950
King George
$214,750
$222,000
$228,200
Westmoreland
$139,000
$162,500
$120,000
Orange
$175,000
$197,500
$195,000
Fauquier
$232,000
$248,000
$217,310
Culpeper
$179,900
$180,000
$158,500
Fredericksburg area**
$207,000
$200,000
$191,250
* Median is the middle price. For example, if 11 homes were sold, the median would be the price of the sixth-most expensive home (the middle one). We use this figure because extremely expensive or inexpensive homes can skew averages. The average sales price tends to be higher than the median. For example, the Fredericksburg-area average sales price for April was $228,057.
** This area-wide median home sales price includes all of Fredericksburg city, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George counties.
--Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.