Braemar Reflection Quarterly: April-June 2022 (2nd Quarter)
Have you been hearing of doom and gloom in the real estate market? Well, not everyone who opens their mouths on the topic should be considered trusted resources. There are plenty of talking heads ranting about a market crash on the horizon. From where I sit as a full-time Braemar Real Estate Agent, I am just not seeing it. I know buyers would love to believe it is true, but prices keep going up and now, mortgage interest rates are going up too. There is certainly an affordability pinch happening, but that doesn’t mean we are headed for a crash.
In this edition of the Braemar Reflection Quarterly, we will look back at the second quarter’s sales activity for the semi-attached/semi-detached single family homes located on Tarvie Circle. They are the single family homes that are attached to one neighboring home at the rear load garage only.
There was only one Reflection home that sold between the beginning of April and end of June. The details of that sale are listed below.
This home closed in mid April, before interest rates shot up to just below six percent. It sold for forty-thousand more than its list price and gave no seller subsidy (closing cost help.) It only took seven days for it to go under contract. All in all, a very healthy sale.
Taking this sale and combining it with all three Reflection home sales that happened since the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, the updated six and twelve month data points show us the continuing trend of a seller’s market.
Starting with the sold price column, it is great to see both the six month average and six month median sold prices above their respective twelve month values. This means home values have gone up again in the more recent sales. The lift the short term values are seeing above the longer term values is not as high as we saw last report. This is what we expect to see as inventory remains an issue, but buyers are squeezed by mortgage interest rate increases. Home values will continue to push up, but at slower, more steady pace.
Seller subsidy is a column that shows absolutely none given in either time frame. That’s a symptom of buyers having to remain competitive in a market with not enough homes. We might see seller subsidy make a come back as buyers may want additional help buying their mortgage rate down.
Days on market shows a slight improvement, though none was needed, to the time it takes to go under contract. Both six month values are faster than their twelve month counterparts. Another indicator of the continuing seller’s market.
If you placed your Braemar Reflection home on the market, priced to current conditions, you could expect it to be under contract in a week or less. You could also expect to give nothing in seller subsidy. As far as multiple offers, you may not see those, but it only takes one serious buyer to make a deal. Buyers are acting much more deliberately than they were in the all out frenzy we were seeing from 2020 to early 2022. Gone are the days of waiving every conceivable contingency and offering low appraisal guarantees. We are experiencing more normal offers. Don’t get me wrong. Buyers still need to be competitive to go under contract. And if they are represented by agents who believe the market is crashing, the only thing that may crash if their own hopes of buying a home. You can’t will a market crash into existence with low offers.
The next Braemar Reflection Quarterly will be out in October. Until then, if you would like to investigate what a sale in 2022 would mean for you, I am happy to discuss it. Get in touch for your complementary consultation. You will be sure to hit the top of the market with my listing preparation advice, professional market, expert negotiation and unparalleled knowledge of our neighborhood. Since 2005, No One Knows Braemar Better!
Chris Ann Cleland
Associate Broker, Licensed in VA
Long & Foster Real Estate
703-402-0037, ChrisAnn@LNF.com
www.SellingBraemar.com
www.UncompromisingValues.com
www.ChrisAnnCleland.com
Selling Braemar 