Our 2014 All things Reston Real Estate Annual Update and Review Reston Real Estate Report
Happy New Year! Winter 2015 Greetings! I hope you had a good holiday season and are looking forward to 2015. Real estate wise 2014 was the year that was, and wasn’t. The first six months of the year were on track to be similar to 2013. But in July the market took a turn and we never quite recovered. Even with a thriving stock market and low interest rates buyers had pretty much disappeared from the market. The forecasts from people much smarter than me – National Association of Realtors, economists at FNMA and Freddie Mac to name a few – are predicting 2015 will be the best year since 2007. Some reasons given are millennials will come into the market after being absent for some time, interest rates will remain low, but threats of rising to 5% by year end will encourage (force) many to buy sooner vs. later and overall confidence in the job market and economy is fairly strong right now. SALES – Sales for the year were down 12% from 1170 units in 2013 to 1024 in 2014. Breakdown is as follows – 201 detached homes vs 245 last year, 465 townhouses vs 516 in 2013 and 358 condominiums vs 409 in 2013. The ‘average days to sell’ was 33 days across all categories up from the average of a mere 21 days it took to sell in 2013. By all measures that is still an amazing statistic – in years past the average home in Reston took 96 days to sell! Other positive news is the average sales prices for detached homes were up 5% and townhouses were up 6%, condominiums were unchanged for the year. Currently on the market – January is traditionally a strong selling month. This year we will start with a much higher inventory than in years past. Currently there are 210 properties for sale in Reston – 34 detached homes, 78 townhouses and 98 condos – vs 94 one year ago. Interest rates – 30 year fixed rates are again trending near record lows. We are placing loans under 4%. Thoughts – NAR recently released a ten year study about selling seasons and confirmed what we have known for years. If you are thinking of selling be on the market sooner rather than later. You do not want to wait, along with many others, for ‘the spring market’ as there will be greater competition; sellers continue to get a better price in the earlier months of the year. Compounded with threats of rising interest rates makes January/February the better time to bring your home to the market. As always, thank you for your calls, questions and most importantly your referrals! I am never too busy to answer a call or email if you have a question, problem or concern. Jon Querolo, Assoc. Broker The Long and Foster Companies 703.585.4900 or 703.860.0144 (home) or jon@restonproperties.com Celebrating our 48th year serving the Reston...
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Jon Querolo (pronounced: core-elle-o) provides clients with unparalleled real estate knowledge and experience. 