The following analysis of the Fredericksburg, Virginia area housing market has been prepared by the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS® based on analysis of brightMLS multiple listing data.
The local real estate market broke more records in April of 2022 with the regional median sales price and two jurisdictions seeing all-time highs. The month closed out with a nearly 18% increase in total sold dollar volume, going from approximately $288 million in April of 2021, t0 nearly $339 million in April of 2022. Median sold price was up a whopping 15% year-over-year, clocking in at $440,000 in April of 2022 compared to $384,075 in 2021. That beat the all-time high record of $410,000 set in February of this year.
Units sold settled at 731 in April of 2022, compared to 719 in April of 2021, an increase just shy of 2%. FAAR Board of Director Gary Gardiner comments, “The April market continued to be highly competitive for buyers and extremely positive for sellers. Multiple offers, escalating sales prices, and waived
contingencies are some of the benefits sellers are evaluating to make the best decision.”
The stark rise in prices was very apparent in April with Stafford and Spotsylvania counties breaking previous price records and the other jurisdictions not far behind. Spotsylvania County posted an all-time high price in April 0f 2022 of $409,999 while Stafford County came in at a staggering $499,825. Gardiner continues, “Despite the recent increase in mortgage rates, real estate professionals are still experiencing more highly qualified buyers in the market than the number of homes available for sale. Low home supply and high buyer demand continues to be the driving force to our competitive market.”
Days on market, the time it takes from when a listing enters the market until it receives a ratified contract and is removed from active status on the multiple listing service stayed flat from last year at 14 days. That reversed a months-long trend of increasing days on market that started in September of 2021. Despite six months of increasing sit time on the market, overall days on market is still very low by historical standards. The five-year average for April is 27 days on the market compared to the nearly half of that this April at 14 days.
Active listings have shown year-over-year growth since July of 2021 with April posting another 44% increase in homes on the market compared to last year. There were 727 homes on the market at the end of April compared to 505 last year. While that increase is good for buyers, there were still nearly 1,000 fewer homes on the market this year than just three years ago in April of 2019. New listings were down this April by about 12%, with 1,057 new homes coming on the market compared to nearly 1,200 last April. New pending sales were down nearly 23% and overall pending sales are down nearly 30%, indicating that continued supply challenges and increasing interest rates could be dampening demand.
