March 2009 
There are 71 blog entries for March 2009.
Great Falls homes Week Through 3/27/09
Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 8:56am. 128 Views, 0 Comments.
Mar 23 - Sales of existing homes went up 5.1% in February, boosted by “deep” price discounts. It was the largest percentage gain since 2003. Distressed sales accounted for about 45% of the February transactions. The median sales price dropped 15.5% in the past year. Inventories of unsold homes rose to a 9.7-month supply nationally – locally it is much different [drastically lower].
Mar 25 – Demand for machinery and other capital goods increased in February, driving orders up 3.4%. The unexpected rise in orders for big-ticket items marked the first increase after six-straight-monthly drops, an indication that the domestic demand may have bottomed.
Mar 25 – Sales of new homes went up 4.7% in February as discounting continues to reduce the inventory of…
Week Through 3/20/09 McLean homes
Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 10:12am. 116 Views, 0 Comments.
Mar 17 - Building permits for single-family units rose 11% in February, the largest percentage gain in 18 years after a very weak January. Home builders remained extremely discouraged about their business in early March.
Mar 18 – With losses in the financial and job markets taking their toll in the near term, a return to strong growth is unlikely until next year according to the Conference Board.
Mar 17 – The Federal Reserve surprised the markets with a commitment to buy $300 billion in long-term Treasurys and extend their commitment to purchases of mortgage-backed securities.
Mar 18 – With energy prices rising at the fastest pace in seven months the CPI increased 0.4% in February. Without energy and food, the core CPI increased 0.2% for the second…
Home Ownership Q&A with Todd Kolasch in Fairfax, VA - March 2009
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 2:46pm. 122 Views, 0 Comments.
Q: Hi Todd. Are there set rules for mortgage modifications. I get different answers depending on who I talk to. A: Great question. There are some questions in real estate where a good real estate should say, “I don’t know.” Until now this was one of those questions. I say ‘until now’ because the current administration’s housing plan addresses the issue of homeowners who can’t afford their monthly payments because of a number hardships. This plan encourages lenders to modify homeowner’s mortgages who fall under the definition of hardship. And therein lies the rub. The definition is loose at best and includes such things as ARM payment increase, lost income and increased expenses. The bottom line: an approved mortgage modification would reduce…
Week through 3/13/09 Sterling homes
Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 11:38am. 111 Views, 0 Comments.
Mar 10 – Fed Chairman Bernanke told Congress the big banks will not be allowed to fail given the fragile state of the financial markets and global economy.
Mar 11 – In February, the overall figure for retail sales slipped by 0.1%, but that was less than expected and came after a 1% rise in January. Perhaps more importantly, virtually all of the drag came from still-slumping auto sales. Excluding auto sales and gasoline prices, the "core" measure of retail sales improved by 0.5%, the second consecutive increase after five months of considerable declines.
Mar 13 – The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index increased slightly in early March, but remains at relatively low levels amid mounting job losses and financial weakness.
Mar 13 - Oil closed the…
Northern Virginia Home Sales Report February 2009
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 10:27am. 122 Views, 0 Comments.
FEBRUARY Home Sales 2009 vs. 2008FEBRUARY HOME SALES 2009 2008
Detached 429 417
Attached 342 292
Condos & Co-ops 296 260
Total (+10.11%) 1,067 969Average Days On Market (-6.03%) 109 116
Pending Home Sales (+19.07%) 1,817 1,52
Active ListingsTIVE LISTINGS
Detached 3,836 4,405
Attached 1,828 2,571
Condos & Co-ops 2,147 2,521
Total (-17.75%) 7,811 9,497
Months Supply (-25.31%) 7.32 9.80
Sales Price
Average (-20.70%) $380,077 $479,320
Median (-22.53%) $318,000 $410,500
Year to DateYEAR TO DATE
YTD Homes Sold (+22.55%) 2,065 1,685
YTD Sales Volume $781,458,176 $812,479,925
YTD Average Sales Price (-21.52%) $378,430 $482,184
*EDITOR’S NOTE: Figures are based on data extracted from the Metropolitan Regional Information System,Inc. (MRIS). Figures include data collected from the…
Greater Fairfax Home Sales Data - January 2009
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:10pm. 115 Views, 0 Comments.
The Greater Northern Virginia area consists of Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun counties as well as other outlying Piedmont counties. I'll post data for the closer-in counties in the next couple days.
There was a 55.5% increase in the number Fairfax homes sold in January 2009 from a year earlier; 2,132 from 1,371 respectively. Importantly, this is the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year increased sales for Fairfax and Arlington, Va.
Now let's look at the average sales price. The January 2008 average sales price was approximately $422,000, which has decreased by about 28% a year later for an average sales price of approx. $303,000.
The number of listings continues to decrease across the Fairfax area, with 15,295 active listings, versus…
Fairfax homes Market thru 2/26/09
Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 1:44pm. 118 Views, 0 Comments.
The following report covers 1/26/09 thru 2/26/09....In general, a 5-6 months supply of housing is considered a balanced market(one where neither the buyer or seller has a distinct advantage)...as you can see the market in Northern Virginia is tight. (you will not see this good info on the local news)
Town Active Listings Under Contract 1/26-2/26 Months supply
Alexandria 1497 415 3.6
Arlington 800 250 3.2
Ashburn 338 169 2
Chantilly …