Happy New Year and Welcome to my new BLOG! I hope to provide lots of valuable and practical information that any Northern Virginia homeowner- buyer, seller or renter would want to know.
Let's reflect for a moment on the housing market in 2015...According to NVAR, December 2015 saw 10% more pending contracts compared with December 2014. That's huge! NVAR CEO Ryan T. Conrad says, “Our region’s cyclical economic recovery continues. In our Northern Virginia footprint, we saw annual 2015 gains in average and median home prices. In addition, most months offered improved inventory. Our region’s sales pace last year reflected that there was homebuyer confidence...2015 ended with a stable and healthy local market.”
If recent activity is any indication, I expect that 2016 will be a great year to buy or sell. I had more meetings with buyers and seller during the last quarter of 2015, then in previous 4th quarters. Open Houses in December were reporting record numbers of visitors and multiple offers.
What is driving this surge? I believe two combining factors...1) the unseasaonably warm tempertures we've enjoyed the past three months and 2) the threat of rising interest rates. The Fed has already raised interest rates once in the last 30 days, and reports are they're going to raise them again during the first quarter of 2016. To put that in perspective, rates are still hovering around 4% currently.
If you'd like to talk further about the current market or if you've considering selling and would like to know what your home is worth, please give me a call. 571-296-2312 ~ Heidi Robbins