Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/28/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Culpeper Takes Another Hit

On the one hand, it's a nice temporary break for taxpayers. On the other hand, it's bad for the county coffers, at least until the County exercises its "equalize the tax rate" routine.

From the Star-Exponent:

"Culpeper County faces a potential $4 million budget shortfall for the 2012 fiscal year due in part to a nearly 13 percent decline in real estate values, recently released figures show.

...According to a county report provided to the Star-Exponent Friday, overall real estate values in the county are down 12.9 percent to $5.17 billion from $5.94 billion in 2010. That equates to a loss of about $771 million in value."

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 2/26-2/27, 2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/25/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/24/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/23/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Some decent earnings news from Toll Brothers.

S&P/Case-Shiller® December Home-Price Index

The S&P/Case Shiller® composite index for the month of December was released today.

"'We ended 2010 with a weak report. The National Index is down 4.1% from the fourth quarter of 2009 and 18 of 20 cities are down over the last 12 months. Both monthly Composites and the National Index are moving closer to their 2009 troughs. The National Index is within a percentage point of the low it set in the first quarter of 2009. Despite improvements in the overall economy, housing continues to drift lower and weaker.' says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

'Unlike the 2006 to 2009 period when all cities saw prices move together, we see some differing stories around the country.... Looking deeper into the monthly data, 19 MSAs and both Composites were down in December over November. The only one which wasn’t was Washington DC, up 0.3%. With December 2010 index levels of 99.73 and 99.48, respectively, Cleveland and Las Vegas have the dubious distinction of average home prices now below their January 2000 levels. Detroit was the only market that was in that group prior to December.'"

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/22/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/21/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 2/19-2/20, 2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/16/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/15/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/14/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 2/12-2/13, 2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Current Available Inventory

Here's an inventory update -- the statistics are from Virginia MLS. It's a little quirky -- I read it from right to left. It begins in March 2005 and ends on February 1, 2011. February 9ths inventory stands at 6,345, a slight decrease from the beginning of the month.

Here's the link to the whole spreadsheet.

Northern Virginia January Housing Sales

Northern Virginia January 2011 housing sales were down 11.6% YoY, and median prices were up 2.1%. The average days on the market increased by 28% to 73 days.

(The above statistics include Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Falls Church City, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Manassas City, Manassas Park City, and Prince William County).

About three months ago, MRIS updated its presentation of market statistics. There were slight revisions in each year of each county's sales data going back to 2005.



Source: MRIS

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/11/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/10/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/9/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/8/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/7/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/4/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/3/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/2/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 2/1/2011

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.