Welcome to the Mon County Market Snapshot brought to you by White Diamond Realty. Let’s take a look at the residential real estate market in the month of January as compared to January of 2020. There hasn’t been much difference in the trends we’ve been seeing, and this month I’m going to give an overview of the current market as well. Bonus!
Single family detached home sales continue to be strong, with just a slight drop this month in value. (Remember my thoughts on the stronger emphasis being on unit volume over sales value? This continues to be the case, so no worries.) The unit sales increased nearly 39% from 44 in 2020 to 61 last month. They also sold considerably faster with an average of 72 days on market as opposed to 107. This is significant as the previous few months are typically slower in sales volume than the rest of the year. Sales price was the softest category, as mentioned, with a mild drop of around 2% from $314,204 in 2020 to $307,122 for January of 2021.
Attached homes are performing similarly as we’ve seen in the last several months. In January of 2020 there were 12 units sold. That number jumped by over 66% to 20 this year. Did they sell faster? Of course, as that seems to be par for the course these days, with a decrease from 80 days on market to 52. This month we are seeing a different trend in value, however. The sales price jumped nearly 19% in January of 2021 to $217,356 from $182,804 last year.
Monthly statistics aside, I consistently get questions about current market conditions. We keep up on these trends as well, so I thought I would highlight our current situation this month. As of the time of pulling my statistics, there were 221 active residential listings on the market in Monongalia County, which included both attached and detached homes. When I pulled in the properties currently under contract that number jumped to 418, meaning over half our inventory is under contract. In the two weeks prior 66 properties had gone under contract, and only 13 new ones had come on. What does that mean? Inventory is extremely low!
To further illustrate this, I calculated the current absorption rate. This is a term we use in our industry to indicate how many months of inventory we have which determines if we are in a seller’s or buyer’s market. Anything under 5 months inventory indicates a seller’s market while anything over 7 months indicates a buyer’s market. If we’re in the middle we’re in a balanced market and that is typically where we are here in Mon County. This is calculated by comparing the average number of properties sold per month in a given period, usually 3 or 6 months, compared to what is currently active. Using the three-month model and active properties we have a 2.3 month supply of inventory. If I include properties under contract, which is an extremely conservative approach, we have 4.4 months of inventory. If I take these models and go back 6 months the inventory is 1.7 and 3.2 months respectively.
Translation? We are very strongly in a seller’s market and our inventory is very low. If you are going to be listing your house in the spring, I advise you consider not waiting. We have buyers right now ready and willing to put your house under contract! If you’re curious how to navigate buying and selling, reach out to White Diamond so we can walk you through options and processes that can help you reach your goal.
The real estate market is not only the pulse of our economy, it’s also the strongest asset in most of our portfolios. Being in the know for both the big picture and the individual one is always a good idea, and we at White Diamond Realty hope this monthly article helps shed some light. If you’ve been considering buying but aren’t sure of your options, we can help. If you already own your home and wish to discuss the potential value and current equity of your home, feel free to give White Diamond Realty a call. Our local expert agents are in the trenches every day and here to advise you on how best to navigate the real estate market. Whether you’re trading up, paring down, or getting started, having a professional by your side to help every step of the way is imperative to making what is most likely the largest transaction of your lifetime a well informed and expertly executed one. Never high-pressure sales. Always high-quality service. We can be reached by phone at 304-241-7500, email at info@whitediamondrealty.net, or online at whitediamondrealty.net. Feel free to connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too! Just search and follow White Diamond Realty LLC to get updates on all things real estate and our community as a whole. Tune in next month to see what February has in store for us here in Monongalia County. Until then, enjoy your chocolates and sniff those flowers as it seems those will be all we have for awhile…
304.241.7500
Melissa Berube, Broker
WhiteDiamondRealty.net
1399 Stewartstown Road, Suite 300 Morgantown, WV 26505
