Area realtors: Home prices drop $20,000

The median price for homes sold in Central Virginia fell nearly $20,000 in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, according to a market report being released today by the Charlottes-ville Area Association of Realtors.
Home sales, however, rose 4.3 percent from January to March compared with the same months last year, and the number of homes on the market fell, the study shows.

CAAR officials say the market’s performance is pretty much what they expected, with some mixed messages for buyer and seller.
“There’s some good news and some bad news, but it’s pretty much the same news,” said Michael Guthrie, past CAAR president and CEO of Roy Wheeler Real Estate in Albemarle County. “There really isn’t that much happening. There are some aspects that are down and some that are up, but it’s pretty much about the same as it was in the last quarter.”
“It’s pretty much a flat market and it doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Barbara McMurry, president-elect of CAAR and a managing broker at Montague Miller and Co. in Albemarle County. “The median price was down, which can be bad news for a seller, but the inventory was also down. That will help stabilize prices.”

Officials said they believe the market performance would have been better but for several snowstorms in January and February.
“What the weather did was slow down people getting their homes on the market and getting out to find homes,” said Greg Slater, CAAR president and chief spokesman and a broker with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III. “I do feel like we’ve started off the year in better shape than we did last year, though.”
Median prices are the home prices for which there are as many homes that sold for more as homes that sold for less. The study notes that median prices declined 7.6 percent this year compared with last year’s first three months. That puts the median price at just above 2005 figures, about the time that local home prices began to skyrocket.
Albemarle County median prices dropped from $290,000 in last year’s first quarter to $285,300 this year. Charlottesville figures dropped from $262,893 for median home sales in 2009 to $248,000 in 2010’s first quarter.

Housing inventory — the number of houses on the market — dropped from 3,608 homes to 3,353. Officials said a balanced real estate market would have about 2,225 homes on the market at one time.
“We won’t see a rise in price trends until we see inventory come in line and get a handle on foreclosures and short sales and the like,” Slater said. “Until that happens, it’s not going to change that much.”
Guthrie agreed.
“Until inventory changes, we’re going to continue to see downward pressures on prices and sellers are going to have to be very aware of what properties are selling for in their communities,” he said.
The large number of homes on the market is the creation of a variety of market pressures, real estate officials say. Some homes are on the market because owners want to sell, some because owners want to downsize or move, some because the owners need to get out of the homes due to financial issues and others because banks have foreclosed upon them.
Those forces tend to work to keep down home values, a boon to those looking to buy.
“All of that has an impact,” said Ray Caddell, of Ray Caddell Century 21. “It’s an awful good time to get a special deal on a home.”

Guthrie agreed.
“For one buyer, it’s a great time to buy and for another, it’s not,” he said. “For some sellers, now is the time and others may want to wait awhile.”
Officials also expect the next quarter to be better.
“It’s spring and people historically are looking for new properties and want to get into them during the summer so the family gets accustomed to the neighborhood,” Guthrie said. “There will be more people buying and more selling and that could make a big difference.”