Spring Real Estate Market or Buying Frenzy? Both!

Everybody knows that the real estate market picks up in the spring. The holidays—which start earlier and end later every year it seems—are filled with personal and work commitments and social events and of course religious obligations.   After New Year's, it is time to get back into the routine and gather information for the tax return. Additionally, the winter months don’t exactly encourage house projects or landscaping with the cold days and long nights. Real estate agents are accustomed to an uptick in calls in early March and by April the open house signs are littering the medians and intersections. Spring is here and there are houses to be sold!

This phenomenon is not new—it happens every year around this time. But what is really going on? There seems to be a lot of something, but it is hard to distinguish the “activity” from the “activity.” Well, here is what is going on in Alexandria (city limits—not including Fairfax County).

In March 2012 there were 140 new listings on the market in Alexandria City.   Also in March, 218 listings went under contract. These listings had been on the market an average of 64 days and the average list price was $494,205.

So is this the typical spring market or is the activity this year a sign that buyer activity is on the rise? Let’s compare these numbers to the month of February 2012. In February 2012, in Alexandria city limits, there were 71 new listings. In March, therefore, there was a 97 percent increase in new listings!

It would appear that enough positive factors have collided for increased seller confidence and healthy market activity.  If you are planning a sale, it might be time to stop waiting it out and get your home and your books in order!

Our real estate business, The Selling Edge, is data driven and up to date! If you want market data for any particular area or zip code, please comment on the blog and we will consider a blog post on the market in your neighborhood! For further information about these statistics or for information about sales in your zip code, contact thesellingedge@gmail.com or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesellingedge

*Information provided from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems database.