UPSCALE LIVING IN HAYMARKET & GAINESVILLE
Haymarket Homeowner HaymarketHomeowner.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Real Estate Market Trends for Q1 2017 EXIT Heritage Realty Featured Properties Favorite Spring Festivals and Weekend Events 2017 Homeowner Improvement & Service Directory 2017 How to Start a Real Estate Business from Home Meet the EXIT Heritage Realty Agents Tips and Advice: How to Get That Fixer Upper Look and Feel Market Watch: March 2016 Published by
EXIT HERITAGE REALTY Bryan Garcia, Principal Broker
EXIT Heritage Realty Haymarket, VA www.EXITheritage.com 703-753-9100
Real Estate & Community News from EXIT Heritage Realty and Bryan Garcia, Principal Broker Spring 2017
Things to Watch in Local Real Estate 2017
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redicting real estate trends is tricky, especially in our region. We can watch what’s happening on the national front, however, our specific location has it’s own influences – proximity to the nation’s capital, a low unemployment rate and continued population growth. Some things are consistent everywhere though, like the shift in generations and home buying trends. These things will affect the national real estate market, as well as our local market. Here are a couple of things I think we will notice as the future unfolds. First, Millennials and Baby Boomers are finally moving. The two largest generations in history are both approaching life stages that motivate people to buy a home: marriage, children, empty nesting and retirement. We’ve been waiting for the Millennial generation (approximately ages 21 to 37) to surge in the market but due to school debt, home prices and mortgage accessibility, many have held off. Now that's changing. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in 2016, first-time home buyers made up 40% of home sales and their median age was 32. Boomers, now ages 53 to 71, are also moving. The older ones in the range are moving into retirement and active adult
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COMMUNITY
communities and younger ones, empty nesters, seem to be seeking smaller homes, lower maintenance and cost, or change in location. How are these shifts affecting our local real estate market? Well, we're seeing townhomes, smaller homes and older homes selling fast, to both generations. Yet, the larger homes, those that many of our Baby Boomers raised families in over the past 15 years, are not selling as quickly. I’m seeing this everyday. Which brings me to the second thing, inventory. Total housing inventory in the country at the end of February was 6.4 percent lower than a year ago and has fallen year-overyear for 21 straight months. However, while inventory did slow down last year in our area, it is back up in 2017 compared to 2016. Furthermore, existing inventory, as well as home sales, seems to reflect the generation shifts we're seeing. As of mid-April there were 132 homes for sale in Haymarket. Of those, 75 were priced over $600,000 and 57 priced below. When you see the actual SOLD homes in these ranges (next page), you will find that these higherpriced, larger homes are not selling like the smaller homes are. Buyers seem to be looking for smaller, more efficient and less expensive. (Continued on next page.)
TIPS & ADVICE
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