RICHMOND — January saw the slowest housing market Virginia has seen in eight years according to the January 2023 Virginia Home Sales Report released by Virginia Realtors, a trade association representing over 38,000 realtors in the residential and commercial real estate business.
5,609 homes were sold across the state in January, more than a 30% decline from January 2022, according to the trade association. There was approximately $2.4 billion of sold volume in Virginia in January, which is about $1 billion less volume than a year ago, a 28.5% decline.
In Virginia, the average days on market has been slowing since last summer, it noted. In January, the average days on market statewide was 39 days, a full week longer than January 2022.
“This cooling has been a result of rising interest rates coupled with rising home prices and a lack of homes available on the market. This has led to more potential buyers choosing to sit on the sidelines,” says Virginia Realtors Chief Economist Ryan Price.
Virginia Realtors said with homes remaining on the market longer, Virginia’s supply of homes continued to rise for the fourth month in a row. The overall inventory remains low compared, however, compared to historical averages.
At the end of January, about three out of every four cities and counties Virginia had more active listings than the same time last year, the trade association said, with the sharpest increases in listings in parts of Northern Virginia, the Charlottesville region, and the Northern Neck.
Virginia Realtors said it is still considered a “seller’s market” due to the low inventory, but that the state’s overall market dynamics continue to shift in favor of buyers.
“On average, we’re seeing fewer offers coming in, and there is less of a scramble to outbid other buyers,” says Virginia Realtors 2023 President Katrina M. Smith. “We are also seeing fewer sellers receiving their full asking price.”
The trade association expects these trends to continue the coming months as the market responds to economic uncertainty and the volatile interest rate environment.
The Virginia Home Sales Report is published by Virginia Realtors. For more inoformation, view the full January 2023 Virginia Home Sales Report.
