Loudoun Home Sales Up 12% in 2015

ASHBURN, VA: Home sales were up 12 percent across Loudoun County in 2015 versus 2014 but prices were flat despite strong demand, according to the 2015 Year-End Loudoun County Housing Market Trends Report prepared for the Dulles Area Association of Realtors.

The key results of the analysis include:

• After five years of growth since bottoming out in 2009, Loudoun’s 2015 median sales price was unchanged from 2014 at $432,000.
• Sales in 2015 were very strong, with year-over-year gains in every quarter, including a 20.0 percent increase in the 3rd Quarter. Ultimately, the 6,485 cumulative sales for the year represented an increase of 11.8 percent compared to 2014 with nearly 700 more homes sold.
• Despite a 17.1 percent year-over-year increase in seller activity in the 1st Quarter, new listings were flat in the 2nd Quarter and decreased in the second half of the year. The cumulative number of new listings added over the course of the year topped the 2014 level by merely 1.4 percent.
• Though 2015 started with 43.3 percent more active listings than the prior year, inventories began declining by mid-year and by year’s end there were 10.0 percent fewer listings for sale than 2014.

In Ashburn (20148), the median sales price for a home was $524,420 in 2015 and $535,000 in 2014, a 2.0% decline. A total of 908 homes closed in 2015 and 793 in 2014, a 14.5 % increase.

In Ashburn (20147), 2015’s median sales price was $415,000 and 2014’s was $430,000, a 3.5% decline. In 2015, 1,008 homes were sold and 954 in 2014, a 5.7% increase.

Despite a 2.0 percent dip, Ashburn’s 20148 remains the most expensive ZIP code (of those that averaged 10+ monthly sales) with a median of $524,420. Middleburg’s 20117 had a median sales price of $730,000, but it averaged only four sales per month in 2015.

Ashburn’s 20147 posted only a modest 5.7 percent sales gain, but its 1,008 sales were the second most of any ZIP code in Northern Virginia, trailing only Woodbridge’s 22193, according to the report.

“Inventories have continued to decline into the first quarter of 2016 and some listings have actually received multiple offers the first day on the market... At the same time, rising rents and low mortgage rates are pushing more consumers to buy,” said Jason Jenkins, Realtor at NOVA Home Hunters Realty.

“Loudoun is unique where there is still plenty of land available and unfortunately existing home owners are competing with new home construction, hence the flat sale prices, but not everyone has the luxury to wait 4-6 months for a new build plus mortgage lenders are starting to loosen guidelines which will draw more buyers into the mix and eventually prices will start to rise. Those consumers who are sitting on the fence waiting to buy are going to miss a great opportunity,” Jenkins added.