What's Happening in the Vienna / Oakton Market?

What’s happening in the Vienna & Oakton real estate markets? Are sales up or down? Are we in a “Buyers Market” or “Sellers Market”? How many homes are for sale?

Here are the highlights:

Inventory in Vienna and Oakton continues to rise slowly – up 2% from last week in each area. Vienna has 246 homes on the market and Oakton has 94.

The contract rate in Vienna (14 homes went under contract last week) picked up somewhat over the two prior weeks (where we saw only 9 and 6 contracts respectively). Contracts in Oakton remain steady. Throughout 2011, Oakton has averaged 5.9 homes per week going under contract. This past week, 6 homes went under contract. Vienna has averaged about 16.9 homes a week going under contract. This week we saw 14.

25% of the homes that went under contract this past week sold in 10 days or less. One home that sold was on the market for well over a year (578 days days!). Overall, the average days on market for homes that went under contract was 77 days. While average days on market for homes still active was 100-103 days.

Both Vienna and Oakton remain in or are close to being in a “Balanced Market”. Vienna has a 6 month housing supply (as opposed to the 2011 average of 3 months). While Oakton has a 5.2 month supply of homes (as opposed to the 2011 average of 3.5 months).

While Sellers almost always feel like it takes too long to sell a home & that their home is worth more than what the market says -and Buyers almost always wish they had more time to decide, more inventory and lower prices – the reality is that a Balanced Market is probably the healthiest of all situations – at least as far as our economy is concerned. The combination of low interest rates and low unemployment in our area have produced what for now seems to be a very healthy market. And that is good for everyone. Just as in life, where the older you get, the more you realize that “boring can be good” – so it is with real estate, “balance may be boring, but boring can be good.”

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, you may want to read:

And you may want to listen to these excerpts from Real Estate Radio Washington:

Email The Belt Team to schedule a Buyer or Seller consultation, to request a FREE WRITTEN REPORT of your home’s value or to be put on our FREE PRIORITY NOTIFICATION LIST for special buying opportunities that are not in the MLS or on the Internet.

For our detail-oriented readers, here are last week’s stats:

Last week in Vienna Real Estate (22180,22181, 22182):

Number of Contracts: 14
Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 103 days
Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 82 days
Inventory: 246 homes on the market
Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 4.2 months
Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 6.0 months

Here are last weeks stats for Oakton Real Estate (22124):

Number of Contracts: 6
Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 100 days
Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 65
Inventory: 94 homes on the market
Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 4.9 months
Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 5.2 months

P.S. The Belt Team is a Community Blogger for Vienna Patch, Oakton Patch and WUSA9.com. This week Editor Erica Hendry & Vienna Patch celebrated their 1 year Anniversary. This is a GREAT local publication and we are happy to have them in our community! We feel very strongly that local news coverage is vital as a complement to what is covered in the national news. Our industry is a perfect example of that and why we have a local blog to cover real estate in the Northern VA area. Our market does not always mirror what is happening in the national news. So – Happy Anniversary Erica!