Year-End Review – How Did 2008 Compare to 2007?

A stimulus package.

A Presidential Election.

A $7,500 first-time home buyer credit.

Historically low interest rates.

Increased Loan Limits.

How did these policies and changes in 2008 affect our local real estate market? Let’s take a look:

The Verdict? Volume went down, prices went down, and time on the market went up. Not a big surprise. But what does this mean heading into 2009?

-Opportunities for affordable housing are in the buyers favor
-Low interest rates makes affordable housing prices into affordable monthly payments
-Opportunities for increased equity years from now are huge

We are clearly in a buyers market here in Northern Virginia. If you’re looking for the “bottom,” you may have already missed it. Remember the saying “hindsight is 20/20”? That’s because you only know when you’ve hit bottom after you’ve passed it.

Data discussed for Northern Virginia includes the following: Counties of Fairfax and Arlington; cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax; towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.  (Loudoun County not included in Northern Virginia data). All data was supplied from NVAR.com.