New figures in the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors Second Quarter Home Sales report show homes are taking longer to sell in the Charlottesville area, but home prices are remaining strong.
“I would say that the market remains competitive,” said CAAR President S. Lisa Herndon in an interview on Charlottesville Right Now following the release of the report. “Our job numbers are looking good.”
The report shows homes were on the market an average of 30 days before selling in the second quarter, up significantly from the same time period last year when the average time on market was 17 days.
“If the home is priced properly and in good condition, meaning it shows well, and you’re working and listening to your professional Realtor, it can sell within a week,” Herndon said. “Some buyers out there feel that pain that homes that are priced properly are not lasting on the market very long at all.”
Interest rates, which were hovering just below seven percent when the report was released last week, are another factor that may be contributing to slower sales, according to Quinton Beckham, principal broker for KW Alliance and former CAAR president.
“So if you bought a house two-and-a-half years ago and your mortgage is two-and-a-half percent, even if you really want to move, you’re terribly de-incentivized,” Beckham said.

According to Beckham, even with higher interest rates and lower inventory, there will always be homes for sale and interested buyers thanks to what he calls “the five Ds.”

“The reasons people move even when they don’t want to are death, divorce, diamonds, diapers, and downsizing,” Beckham said. B

The report shows the median home price for our area is hovering around $445,900, which is a $28,000 jump from last year. Combining that figure with higher interest rates means many buyers won’t qualify.
Fortunately, says Beckham, new home sale prices are very close to median resale prices.
“That’s good news to help relieve some of the inventory issues we have,” said Beckham. The bad news, he said, is that a greater percentage of the homes that sold in the second quarter were above $500,000 while fewer were sold in the $200,000 to $300,000 category.
“So you see that block of homes that we might think of as more affordable, at least in terms of number of sales, has transitioned to less affordable,” Beckham said. “Watching what creates that median price and how that plays out I think is really important to us as a community and to our municipal government.”
Listen to the full interview with S. Lisa Herndon here.
Listen to the full interview with Quinton Beckham here.