It's the home stretch for 2008, and what a year it's been so far – the first half of the year showed that the time to sell a home was actually FALLING a bit, but prices were unchanged for the most part save for a few select areas. As we head further into fall and winter, I expect we'll see shifts across all area markets to what we'd consider a buyers' market. There are also many Adjustable Rate Mortgages expected to reset in early 2009 and so I'm wondering if we may see more homes coming on the markets in the next couple of months, as homeowners try to avoid rising mortgage payments. If you're one of those homeowners and aren't intending to move, please contact me immediately – let's find a local lender who can act quickly to help you refinance and keep your payments low.
When it comes to absorption rates, we're looking at how long it would take to sell the existing
residential inventory in a particular area, if nothing else came on the
market until supply was exhausted. Anything over 5 months is typically
a buyers' market, and anything less than 5 months is typically a
seller's market.
| Area | # of Active Properties | # of Sold Properties |
Absorption Rate |
Buyer/Seller Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksburg | 208 | 35 | 5.94 Months | Buyer and Seller |
| Christiansburg | 276 | 41 | 6.73 Months | Buyer |
| Montgomery County | 69 | 11 | 6.27 Months | Buyer |
| Floyd County | 123 | 6 | 20.50 Months | Buyer |
| Giles County | 60 | 4 | 15.00 Months | Buyer |
| Pulaski | 108 | 13 | 8.31 Months | Buyer |
| Dublin | 123 | 14 | 8.79 Months | Buyer |
| Radford | 92 | 12 | 7.67 Months | Buyer |
This shift into a buyers' market is certainly nothing new, it usually happens every year. Interesting days ahead though, a slow, steady and calculated approach to the market is going to be important as we move forward towards 2009.
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