For the Northern Virginia housing market, December was more of the same. The number of sales continued to fall because of fewer homes on the market, and tight inventory continued to drive prices of what sold higher.
Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. reports the median price of a home that sold in Arlington County in December was $649,000. That’s up 19% from the median selling price a year earlier. The number of sales in Arlington County was down 24% from a year ago, and, with only 148 homes on the market last month, active inventory was down 51%.
The number of homes for sale in Alexandria City, just 115 last month, was half the number of active listings a year earlier. Closed sales in Alexandria were down 29%, with the median price of what sold up 4% from a year ago at $560,000.
Prices were up throughout Northern Virginia as well. In Fairfax, the median selling price of $545,000 was up 10% from December 2018. Fairfax County had the most listings in the region last month, with 1,160 homes for sale, but that was still down 42% from a year ago.
The median selling price in Loudoun County was up 8%, at $513,000. The median selling price in Prince William County was $379,000, up 9%.
“The market is shrinking, with the number of homes on the market continuing to contract,” said Long & Foster President Larry Foster, who added that there are an abundance of buyers competing for fewer listings.
Elsewhere in the D.C. region, prices in Montgomery County were up 7% from a year ago, and up 4% in Prince George’s County.
In the District, the median price of what sold last month was up 10%, to a record high $635,000 — this despite a 29% drop in active listings compared to a year ago.
Below are market snapshots for December housing sales throughout the region, courtesy of Long & Foster Real Estate:
