Merrifield Homes

Wi******er / Frederick Housing Recap 2023:
Trying to decipher the housing market is always tough, but 2020-2024 has been special, to say the least. Key take-aways (Wi******er and Frederick County combined):

1) Overall Sales Volume (total $$) DROPPED 18% YOY. It also dropped 2022-2023 by 4%
2) Average Sold Price INCREASED by 3% in 2023 after increasing 11% in 2022-23.
3) The Average Active listings increased by 13% to 241 units, BUT...
4) The Average New Listings DROPPED by 23% to 157 a month.

Basically, this market the amount of units sold is tracking with the amount of houses listed. Historically, we should have some 400+ homes available for sale, but there are only 241 at the moment.

New construction listings (houses listed but not built) account for about half of all listings. There are currently less than 100 actual houses for sale for a population of about 120,000 people. This is an incredibly low, historically, inventory of homes for sale.

Annually, we are selling about 1,400-1,500 houses per year in those two markets. That number does not fluctuate much. What does change are the amount of people looking for homes and the amount of inventory for them to buy.

Strong demand + scant inventory = high prices. Inventory has already dropped significantly since December 2023, as January sales volume was 41% higher than 2023, and prices jumped another 4% from December 2023.

Until the inventory rises significantly, expect prices to be stable to increasing. If interest rates drop, you are likely to see a wave of buying and selling that will likely decrease inventory further.

Good luck out there.

merrifieldhomes.com Custom home builders focused on the Wi******er and Frederick County, VA area. Lots available.

Merrifield Homes - Woodley Model