Harrisonblog

I came across an interesting article about national home sales rising to the highest level in 2.5 years (via MSNBC), so to bring it “home,” decided to study the local market home sales, and how they’ve changed over the past year from month to month.

You’ll notice I included data from November 2009, which obviously has not completed yet. This is to show how sales are doing to date (November 23, 2009). The first dip in home sales came this past January, which is no surprise, because January is usually one of the slowest months of the year in terms of home sales in our area (and I’d be willing to bet that is the case in all areas of the country, except for perhaps winter resort towns). February and March posted positive home sales changes, and April took another dip.

Typically, April is the month in which folks put their homes on the market. So there is a flurry of listing activity, and the next few months following — May through July — we see more sales. This is due to buyers putting contracts on those April listings, and then closing a couple months later.

Then things slow down again. August slows down because of busy schedules, last minute summer vacations, and getting ready for the new school year. The fall months tend to slow a bit more, and then we’re back to December and January. Over the past year, the trends have been typical in terms of home sales.

November, so far, has been a great month for home sales, probably due to the first time home buyer tax credit, which has since been extended. It is only the 23rd, so we have a full week of activity left before the month comes to a close, and perhaps we’ll see another increase in home sales.

Below is a chart showing the trends over the past year, and the total for our local area, including the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County (which includes Massanutten Resort).

* Source: HRAR MLS