BELVEDERE STATION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVyWRoL0Wzg

WILLOW GLEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgJLwT6eHuM

Piedmont Realty and Construction also just announced the development start of Dunlora Gates. Attached, one level living villas adjacent to Dunlora on Rio Road. (Near Belvedere) Update coming soon.

It’s really important to breakdown the market into segments. When you look at our area as a whole, you may miss something that is going on in smaller segments of the market. What’s happening in Louisa or Nelson is often irrelevant to someone trying to make a decision about real estate in Charlottesville or Albemarle.

For example, take a look at Glenmore in the Keswick area of Albemarle County. Contracts in the 1st quarter of 2012 are up. Way up. There were 22 contract written this year. That’s more than 2009-2011 combined. That’s the most since 2004. You won’t find data points like this looking at brief summaries of the market. You have to dig deeper in the your segment of the market.

The stats are encouraging for the first time in a while. I wasn’t expecting sold data to show an increase in sales just yet, but they did in some areas. I think the 2nd quarter will show some more significant increases as this sold data will show the results of the contracts being written now, in what we consider the Spring market.

CAAR MARKET REPORT

NEST REALTY REPORT (This report is easy to read and summarizes things nicely.)

I look forward to watching this data develop throughout the year.  It is too early to tell where this is all going. If you are thinking of buying or selling in this market, make sure you get some specific data related to your segment of the market and follow it for a while.

I love to talk real estate, feel free to contact me if you would like to talk.

Check out the report here.

Registration for all 2012 programs begins tomorrow.

Go to www.charlottesville.org/parksandrec to register. If you encounter problems with the on-line registration call 434-970-3260 for assistance.

Go to www.thefirstteecharlottesville.org and open Programs and Instruction to see Schedule & Fees.

I love to talk real estate…. but not as much as I love to talk golf.  If you ever been interested in introducing your child to golf, this is a great place to start.

1. Overall, contracts for JAN/FEB are up year over year. For Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, and Greene contracts for 2012 so far are 409 versus 308 for the same period last year. That’s 33% more. Charlottesville is showing the biggest increase (80%). Albemarle is up 35%. Fluvanna is up 18% and Greene is down 13%.

2. Of these contracts, each of these areas are showing anywhere from 30-40% of the listings having been on the market for less than 60 days. That is, these were homes listed since the beginning of the year. To me, this means it is very important to list your home at the right price from the start to have the best chance of selling.

3. Last year in Albemarle, 21% of the contracts for this period were short sale or foreclosure. This year that number has decreased to 13%. New home sales are roughly the same. No significant change in percentages for Charlottesville. New home sales are down, but I would attribute this to lack of new home opportunity in the city.

4. In Fluvanna and Greene, things are a bit different. Short sales and foreclosure transactions are on the rise and were 50% of the sales in the first 60 days of 2012 in these area. That’s up from 20% last year for Greene and 31% last year for Fluvanna. We will need to watch this going forward.

5. The inventory available right now across these areas is lower than it has been since 2006. As of today March 5th, there are 1278 listings on the MLS for these four areas. Last year this number was 1530. That’s 16% less. It will be important to watch this as well.

This is just a very small snaphsot of the leading edge of our market. These transactions still need to close to become a part of the sold data story we rely on to understand this market.

Feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjjLAW2wbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P1fis7ucMk

They’ve got a great web site too. www.nestrealtygroup.com

CAAR 2011 YEAR END REPORT

That being said, there is some very interesting information coming out of the new home market right now. When it comes to new home values, there are many angles to consider.  Overall residential supply, availability of land, short sales and foreclosures, and cost of construction all have impact on values.  For some time now, lack of confidence and declining housing starts have kept construction costs down.  That may have just changed.

From Drew Holzwarth of Piedmont Realty and Construction: 

“This has been an interesting week for a variety of reasons.  The positive industry news in the media, with several industry analysts calling the bottom of the housing market, has led to a building production manufacturer reaction that I expected.  Anemic margins have been achieved by suppliers, contractors and builders alike the past few years in the real estate market.  The fourth quarter of 2011 has been highlighted with attractive corporate profits in other industries that  have lifted the equities  markets and increased consumer confidence.  This positive global news has led to Analysts who follow our industry to say that we have hit the bottom and there should be a slow climb from this point.   I fully expected our national building material suppliers to pounce on this news and they have.  On Wednesday, all 3 national drywall suppliers – the only ones left that produce drywall in the United States announced price increases – all the same – all 35% increases, Effective immediately.   In my career of following pricing of building products, I have never seen this level of a price increase.  The bumps are historically 5%  to a maximum of 10%.  Their only competition is Chinese Drywall…..pass.    On Friday, Timberline and Tamko announced a 15% increase on roofing products.  This week, I expect, similar increases from Fiberglass insulation, PVC plumbing pipe, lumber, and cement – raising concrete prices.  Crazy and frustrating.  The market remains challenging and homebuilders will have to continues to stay relevant and sell value in order to justify building new vs. the value in buying resale homes.”

Holzwarth’s company is the largest privately held home builder in our area. Piedmont Realty and Construction closed 72 sales for just over $29 million in sales volume in 2011.

This is a very interesting development for certain and some builders will react faster than others. I read somewhere that builders will need to absorb these additional costs themselves. I don’t see that happening. From the builder’s I talk to, there really isn’t room. Over the last few months, new homes sales have been steady in our area with renewed, yet cautious, optimism going forward. Hopefully, the market can absorb these price increases and keep moving. We will see.

New home sales have represented roughly 20% of all sales in Albemarle County for the last 2 years. In many segments of the market, buyers are evaluating their choices and finding that  a new home, exactly the way they want with energy efficiency features, is a better value than their resale options. Today’s buyer is far more deliberate and long term minded than the buyer from just a few years ago.

It will be very interesting to monitor new home prices and their impact on sales in both the new home and resale markets. But as you can see from above, the builders and developers are working hard to be relevant in the market and respond to demand.  If you are considering a purchase in the coming months, be sure and get out there to see what is available new, even if for no other reason that the context it provides.

If you’d like to have a conversation about this market and your goals for buying or selling in 2012, feel free to contact me.