Northern Virginia housing market experiencing a ‘slow market correction’

Homes that sold in Northern Virginia in August were on the market longer, and the total number of sales was down 25% from a year ago, reflecting what the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors terms a slow market correction.

Even so, prices continued to rise.



“Buyers … have a little more time to decide and a little more leeway for contingency protections in the sale,” said NVAR member Colleen Wright, an agent with McEnearney Associates.

By the numbers:

  • Homes took 19 days on average to sell last month.
  • The number of homes for sale was down 19.6% from August 2021.
  • The supply of inventory fell to 1.1 months.
  • The median price of what sold was $627,500, up 3.2% from a year ago.

While higher than a year ago, it was lower than the median selling price in July of $650,000.

Pending sales in Northern Virginia last month, or contracts signed to buy a property but sales not yet closed, were down 30.5% from last August.

“It’s an interesting time as the housing market is slowing compared to earlier this year, but it is still a challenge to find a house and prices remain high,” said NVAR CEO Ryan McLaughlin. “That means sellers are still in charge, but their power is waning, and that opens the door wider for buyers.”

NVAR represents agents in Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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