Home sales down in area

Home sales are down 21.7 percent across the Charlottes-ville region, according to a new market analysis by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, there were 1,962 houses sold in the region. There were 2,506 homes sold during the same period in 2007.

The area’s steepest decline was in Albemarle County, which saw 31.5 percent fewer homes sold than in 2007. Charlottesville dropped 7.6 percent; Fluvanna County fell 27.6 percent; Greene County declined 13.8 percent; and Nelson County fell off 14 percent.

Louisa County was the region’s sole bright spot, thanks in large part to the Spring Creek development and ongoing growth around the Zion Crossroads area. Louisa saw 161 homes sold through September, marking a 4.5 percent increase over 2007.

The region’s real estate market has not seen such moribund sales figures in seven years.

“It’s been hard to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Believe me, I’ve been looking for a year now,” said Judy Savage, a real estate agent with Re/Max Assured and president of CAAR. “I keep thinking I see it, but then somebody puts it out.”

However, Savage said, there are reasons to be optimistic that sales will eventually pick back up.

While the overall sales are down, Savage pointed out, the size of the decline is less pronounced than it was three months earlier. At the mid-point of 2008, sales were down in the Charlottesville area by 28 percent.

The Northern Virginia market appears to be picking up, Savage added, perhaps indicating that Charlottesville’s market would soon follow.

It is a good time for young families to jump into the market, Savage said, because a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is available for first-time homebuyers. At the same time, she acknowledged, lending requirements have been tightened, so homebuyers generally need good credit and a good amount of cash available for a down payment.

With real estate sales continuing to slow, more than a few real estate agents are looking for a new line of work. By January, Savage said, an estimated 15 percent of local real estate agents will not renew their licenses.

“It’s a tough, tough time out there,” she said.

The local real estate market’s median sales price through September was $281,000, down 1.7 percent from last year’s median price of $285,935.

Prices have dropped more than is shown by the median sales price figures, Savage said, because condominiums — which are generally priced relatively low — are not selling especially well, while higher-end properties continue to find buyers.

The lower prices are more apparent when looking at the average sales price in the local market. Through September, the average sales price was $362,788, which is 4.8 percent lower than the previous year.

Homes for sale in today’s market are taking much longer to sell than in previous years. It took an average of 115 days for a home to sell between the start of the year and the end of September. During the same time period last year, it took an average of 89 days to sell a house.

Despite the dire portrait painted by this year’s sales figures, real estate agents say that aggressively priced homes continue to sell.

“The people who are pricing their houses right aren’t seeing them stay on the market for very long,” said Lori Chapman, managing broker with Real Estate III. “That’s an encouraging sign.”