Northern Virginia home prices still soaring, with very little for sale

Potential homebuyers in Northern Virginia are increasingly getting priced out of the market, and soaring prices are being fueled by the fact that buyers are competing for very few homes for sale.

The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors reports the median selling price in December was $675,000, up 12.5% from December 2022. It reached $760,000 in Arlington County, up a staggering 44.6% from a year earlier.

There are fewer than 1,000 homes currently for sale throughout the Northern Virginia region. The number of active listings last month fell to just 986, and as evidence of how tight that inventory is, the total number of pending sales, or contracts signed to buy, was 773. Supply is not keeping up with demand, with just 559 new listings coming on the market last month.

That tight inventory is holding back sales, with sales down 16.3% from December 2022, the same narratives that impacted the Northern Virginia market throughout last year.

“2023 was a unique year. Toward the end, we started seeing smaller monthly declines in sales, which is good news,” said NVAR CEO Ryan McLaughlin. “As people adjust to higher rates — and as they drop some, I expect to see more thawing in the marketplace and smaller monthly home sales declines but consumers should be prepared for home prices remaining high.”

The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors represents transactions in Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clinton.

Median selling prices, and year-over-year changes in them, varied significantly throughout those jurisdictions. Below is a chart of sales, courtesy of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.