Let’s start off with a prediction.

Don’t be surprised if Amazon announces that it’s second location will be out by Dulles Airport.  There are a host of reasons that are obvious, starting with the 30-40 acres for sale out there to expand by Dulles, commute hub, highly trained work force and tons of expansion possibilities further west for employees to move out towards Purceville and other nearby locals.  And of course the coming Silver Line spur.  Throw in a temperate local climate and you might have a winner.

In addition I’ve been noting some recent local real estate transactions by Amazon executives.

Now on to some numbers.  Surprise surprise inventory continues to be an issue.  We are down to 4,839 homes on the market in the Northern Virginia region which represents a mere 1.3 months supply of housing and which is down 15% from last year and 45% from 2 years ago.

I’ve covered at length the market implications for this in previous posts.  One problem this created that I have noted previously may be on it’s way to a correction.  Namely appraisal issues, which are still occurring frequently.  As the prices climb rapidly in some areas we don’t have the comparable sales to justify appraisals that match what the market values are right now.  But what is happening is that a large number of buyers are waiving the appraisal contingency, pushing though sales at higher prices that will be comps for pending and summer transactions.  So some good news there.

As always please reach out with any questions about this or any other real estate related topic or need.

It’s a good life.

Chris