Local home sales drop yet further

Local home sales continued to head south in the first quarter, falling by 35 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
The results were not unexpected, as rising unemployment has many consumers worried about jobs and reluctant to make major purchases such as cars and homes.
Still, local real estate professionals are finding reasons for optimism in the fine print of the most recent report of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.
For example, the number of contracts pending on homes in Albemarle — reflecting properties for which offers have been made and accepted but have not yet closed — is nearly even comparing the first three months of this year with the same period in 2008.
That’s at least an encouraging counter to the actual sales figures calculated in the quarterly report, said CAAR President Michael Guthrie, and hints at a strengthening spring market.

“Hopefully, the second quarter will result in more ‘sold’ activity,” said Guthrie, who is CEO of Roy Wheeler Realty Co.
Despite that sliver of good news, the trends are decidedly negative.
In the first three months of the year, sales were 333 compared to 515 a year ago. The statistics include sales in Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson and Orange.
Median prices between the first quarters slid in most localities.
The median in Albemarle dropped from $335,000 to $290,000. Median prices in Charlottesville declined from $281,250 to $262,810.

Only Greene and Nelson counties saw median prices go up in the first quarter compared with last year’s. And in those counties, the median is based on only 20 homes sold in each.
For the local market, the overarching factor continues to be the glut of properties for sale. The CAAR report puts the market inventory at 3,608 homes, well above the 2,000 to 2,500 homes that the group says would be more balanced. (Those figures include homes in areas outside the core Charlottesville/Albemarle market.)
Having so many houses, townhomes and condos for sale gives buyers more choices and helps push prices down, but also means it takes longer to sell a home and can bog down sales contingent on a buyer selling his or her current home to be able to buy a new one.
Greg Slater, president-elect of the Realtors association, said another statistic from the quarterly report is encouraging for the months ahead.
Of contracts signed in Albemarle County in the first quarter of last year, only 33 percent were for homes priced at less than $300,000. In the first quarter of this year, 74 percent of contracts pending are for homes priced under $300,000.
The city’s figures are higher, with 90 percent of contracts in the first quarter under $300,000, compared with 61 percent a year ago in Charlottesville.
“The first-time homebuyer must be back,” said Slater, director of marketing and sales for Real Estate III.

Slater and others point to several factors that may attract more first-time buyers:
-- The high inventory creates more competition and gives buyers more bargaining power;
-- interest rates for 30-year mortgages have fallen to historic lows and hover around 5 percent; and
-- federal stimulus legislation includes an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home purchases made before Nov. 1.
“Sellers that are pricing their homes properly are beginning to get their homes sold,” Guthrie said. “As more sellers see that, prices will get realistic and inventory could go down.”

Barbara McMurry, senior vice president of Montague Miller and Co. Realtors, said the dismal first-quarter sales figures are not surprising. She welcomes the anecdotal evidence of higher attendance at showings and open houses so far this spring.
“The agents report to me that people want to see a number of properties before they make a decision,” McMurry said. “But they’re definitely looking.”