Mid-Year Real Estate Update
Lake of the Woods, Virginia
July 2016

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Where does the time go? In many ways it seems that 2016 begin just a short time ago; yet the year is more than halfway gone, summer passing quickly, and political debate becoming more uncivilized. Soon we will elect a new President, and the impact it will have on the economy remains to be seen. Although real estate markets have remained relatively strong during this long term recovery after the housing bubble collapse nearly a decade ago, Lake of the Woods real estate during the first half of 2016 is still trying to gain traction.

In the first half of the year the real estate markets results in most of our local area have experienced an overall increase in many categories. According to MRIS Real Estate Board Intelligence Reports, there was an increase in total number of sales, as well as dollar volume in the Mid-Atlantic region of nearly         11 % over the first half of 2015.

In Orange County, the increase in units sold increased 7.6% and dollar volume increased over 14%.

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The numbers in those two categories in the 22508 zip code (Locust Grove) were also very similar at 6.76% and 10.45% for units sold and dollar volume respectively.

 Unfortunately the numbers for the Lake of the Woods market were not as robust, with the units sold actually decreasing 2.78% and dollar volume increasing only 4.21%.

Given the statistical reality of sample size, being the smallest of those markets smaller numbers in Lake of the Woods magnify percentage variations. On a more positive note both the average and median sold price of Lake of the Woods Homes increased over 7% and the days on the market decreased slightly to 100 days from 113 during the first six months of 2015. Of the 105 homes that closed in Lake of the Woods during the first 2 quarters of the year, 89 were priced under $300K, so as is typical, the market for homes in the over $300,000 price range in Lake of the Woods remains a difficult segment of the market.

With global as well as national events creating a climate of fear and uncertainty and economic recovery although generally steady, still subject to mercurial changes; many investors, particularly large corporations, have backed out of real estate investing as overall home prices have risen over the last few years decreasing the number of “great deals”.

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Our advice if you are considering listing your home is to respect the HGTV effect on the market. Whereas previous generations of home buyers saw the value of “sweat-equity”, many of today’s home shoppers are interested in updated “turn-key” properties. The “must have” list of open floor plan, wood floors, updated kitchen and higher-end finishes for many trump backyards, square footage and other previously desired property aspects. The key is to upgrade smartly, as it a tepid market it is much too easy to upgrade away all of your equity.

Please take a look around our website for information of currently listed homes and other helpful real estate information. Also feel free to submit a request for a complimentary market analysis of your home.

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