WASHINGTON — Northern Virginia remains one of the most expensive places to buy a house or a condo in the D.C. region, but, by one measure, prices got a little cheaper last month.
The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors says the average price of a home that sold in December was $551,451, down 3.71 percent from a year ago. Even so, the median price, a more accurate measure of selling prices, was down just 0.2 percent from a year earlier to $479,900.
The median selling prices in both Arlington and Fairfax counties were down more than 2 percent.
Sales remained brisk in Northern Virginia last month, with contract signings up more than 10 percent from December 2014, and for all of 2015, closed Northern Virginia home sales saw an overall increase of 9 percent.
“Considering we have a year with new closing laws, a slower-than-usual market in the summer, a strong fall market, and sometimes a flurry of bidding wars, our buyers and sellers had a great 2015,” says NVAR Chairman Virgil Frizzell. “Our region could always benefit from affordably priced new homes that will help our renter population make the move to homeownership.”
The NVAR covers Fairfax and Arlington counties, Alexandria, Falls Church, Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
There is more for potential buyers to look at in Northern Virginia now, with 3,470 active listings last month, up 7.36 percent from a year earlier.
Below is a look at the housing market in Northern Virginia, according to NVAR:
![InfoGraphHousingMarket_December2015[1]](http://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/InfoGraphHousingMarket_December20151.png)
