Click here to download Market Update charts for January 2012.



Although January's sales were not stellar, they were very comparable to Januaries past, as can be seen on the Closed Volume and Closed Transactions charts. January is typically one of the slowest months of the year due to the decreased buyer activity during the holiday season.

The real news in real estate locally is the activity level seems to have gone through the roof! We will begin to see the results of this activity with late February settlements, but probably won't really feel it until March and April. When we take a look at some of the leading indicators in our business like phone calls to our office, showings set up for our listings and visits to our website, we are seeing activity levels higher than our typical summertime peaks. Could it be that Buyers

can no longer resist the combination of declining prices and very low interest rates? We shall see....

This activity, combined with low inventory relative to January inventory levels in 2009, 2010 and 2011 may provide enough demand to finally begin turn around the slide in home prices. Home sales are just like other markets – supply and demand sets the market, like it or not. If the increased demand we are feeling now continues through the year without a significant increase in supply, prices should stop falling. For now, however, prices continue to soften, with the average sales price for homes in the past 12 months falling to $184,717.

Here are the latest changes to average and median sales price throughout the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service:

Three year change:    Average Price down -14.86%, Median Price down -14.21%
One year change:       Average Price down -7.45%,   Median Price down -7.16%

Click here to view or download our Market Activity Charts for January 2012.