The real estate market in Northern Virginia is seeing an uptick at the beginning of 2019, with a greater number of homes under contract in January, compared to a year ago, according to a report by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
“A total of 1,127 homes sold in January 2019, a 2.83 percent increase above January 2018 home sales of 1,097,” the report said.
At the same time, active listings decreased for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton. They were down about 20 percent, with 1,750 active home listings in January, compared with 2,193 properties available in January 2018.
“The Amazon HQ2 announcement, plus favorable interest rates and a relatively mild winter, have all contributed to bringing the buyers out early this year,” Northern Virginia Association of Realtors president Christine Richardson said, noting that open house traffic has been brisk in January and early February.
“Many properties have been sold with multiple offers,” she added.
The median sales price went up specifically for townhouses, growing 2.1 percent to $408,600. It dropped 7.2 percent, however, in the single-family sector, reaching $761,455, and decreased 4.9 percent in the condo sector to $322,194.
Boosted by the anticipated presence of Amazon’s second headquarters, the Arlington market activity outpaced the rest of the Northern Virginia region. The number of sales in the area went up 7 percent compared to a year ago, while a median sold price for a property grew 20 percent to $615,000.
Value of Fairfax County Homes Grows 2-3% in 2019
The average value of residential property in Fairfax County increased by 2.4 percent within a year, according to the latest figures by local authorities.
The average assessed value of single-family homes in the area grew 2.17 percent to $673,407, while the value of attached homes like townhouses and duplexes reached $422,490, a 3.12 percent increase from 2018 to 2019.
At the same time, prices for condominiums were up 2.98 percent to $272,914, and the commercial property assessment increased 2.71 percent.
While increases ranged from 1.54 percent in Dranesville to 3.04 percent in Braddock, most were in the 2-percent area across the county’s nine magisterial districts.
The local government said the assessed value of properties may change for a variety of reasons, including market-driven value increases or declines, known as equalization changes, and value changes generated by such activities as new construction, remodeling and rezonings, referred to as growth changes.
“Overall, of the 294,520 properties that have a 2019 assessment change, 8,596 are due to Growth, and 285,924 changed due to Equalization,” authorities said.