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Health & Fitness

Vienna/Oakton Real Estate: Post-Hurricane/Earthquake, "Shaken or Stirred"?

First an earthquake. Then a hurricane. How did last week's "happenings" affect the local real estate market?

First an earthquake. Then a hurricane. How did last those “happenings” affect the local real estate market? Were things turned upside down (like the photo above that fell off my wall during the earthquake)?

In terms of whether sales were slowed, general sales stayed at or above what we have seen each week so far in 2011. So I’d say that means “stirred, not shaken." But were there other affects?

Thankfully in our area, though some sustained significant damage, most were spared. Amidst the storm, we reached out to our colleagues on the West Coast to talk about what we might expect to see in our area post-earthquake-post-hurricane. Though the situation was slightly different (for example, many Californians have earthquake insurance) there were some similarities.

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Possibilities we were told to look out for included a freeze by lenders on funding loans, a freeze by insurance companies on issuing new homeowner’s policies and a requirement by lenders or insurance companies for a pre-closing inspection.

Did any of these things happen? So far - mostly not. We have had several lenders require their appraiser to come out to do a drive-by or quick visual inspection prior to settlement. But as of today, we have not had any settlements canceled or postponed. Final walkthroughs for our buyers took a little longer as all involved made sure there were no ill affects from the weather. And we anticipate that home inspections going forward may bring to light some post-earthquake-post-hurricane issues. (One local home inspector says he will definitely spend some extra time checking out tall chimneys for example). But all-in-all, the real estate market has just been plugging along as usual.

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What has happened this past week in Vienna & Oakton real estate? Here are the highlights:

  • Inventory in Vienna dropped again (to 220 homes). This is the lowest we have seen in Vienna in over 4 months. Inventory in Oakton also dropped slightly - to 86 homes.

 

  • Vienna’s contract rate increased from the past 2 weeks, but is still slightly below the average we have seen so far this year. 16 homes went under contract last week, and the average for 2011 is 18 contracts per week.

 

  • In Oakton, 6 homes went under contract this week. This puts us right at the average we have seen throughout each week of 2011.

 

  • Homes are back to selling quickly after a slight dip the previous week. Of the homes that went under contract this past week, 41% sold in 10 days or less. The overall average for homes that went under contract was 50 days. (Note however, that the average days on market for active listings has been increasing each week. In Vienna, that number is 112 days (the highest we have seen since early April) and in Oakton, it’s 99 days.)

 

  • Vienna’s housing supply (based on the past 30 days contract rate) is only at 2.9 months - keeping Vienna in the category of a “Sellers Market”. However, for the only the second time since January, the housing supply based on the most recent 30 days is higher than that based on the past 90 days. This means sales as related to inventory are slowing.

 

  • Oakton, on the other hand, has a 3.5 month housing supply - putting Oakton more in a “Balanced Market”. However, based on the contract rate from the past 30 days, the housing supply is only 3.1 days. This is because sales have remained steady, while inventory has decreased.

 

  • One new note is that over the past three weeks, only 5 homes (2 in Oakton and 3 in Vienna) listed above $800,000 have gone under contract. Normally about 20-25% of our contracts are on homes listed above $800,000. Over the past 3 weeks, this number has been about 8%. It’s too early to call this a trend, but it is something to watch.

 

For our detail-oriented readers, here are last week’s stats: 

Last week in Vienna Real Estate (22180,22181, 22182):

  • Number of Contracts: 16
  • Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 112 days
  • Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 45 days
  • Inventory: 220 homes on the market
  • Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 2.9 months
  • Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 3.3 months

 

Here are last week’s stats for Oakton Real Estate (22124):

  • Number of Contracts: 6
  • Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 99 days
  • Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 66
  • Inventory: 86 homes on the market
  • Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 3.5 months
  • Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 3.1 months

Contact The Belt Team for a more in-depth discussion & analysis - because it’s only the neighborhood YOU live in (or you WANT to live in) that matters.

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