NORFOLK, Va. — We may be seeing a shift in the state and local real estate markets after years of strain.
The housing market has been more like a warzone, with buyers fighting over homes they normally wouldn’t even consider.
"We haven't kept pace with the demand, in terms of new supply,” said Simon Stevenson with Old Dominion University’s E.V. Williams Center for Real Estate earlier this year.
At the time, home prices continued to rise in Virginia and here in Hampton Roads. According to the March Virginia Home Sales Report, the average cost of a home in the Commonwealth has increased by $27,000 in just one year.
The culprits were inflation keeping mortgage rates high and tentative homeowners who are staying put and keeping inventory down.
"It's not just 'build more houses,’” said Stevenson. “That's not necessarily [going to] solve the problem. It's 'build the right houses in the right locations.’"
But that trend is now slowly seeing a change.
The latest report from Virginia Realtors shows promising news for the local housing market. From June to July, the median price of a home dropped 1.2% from $431,500 to $426,000.
Active inventory of homes, an ongoing issue across the country, is showing even more promising news with a 4.2% jump in that same time period.
But there is still uncertainty in the market, which means waiting for the market to improve even more, may not be your best bet.
"Home prices could go up if you wait because if interest rates come down, that could maybe encourage more people to come into the market,” said Ali Wolf from housing market research firm Zonda. “It really needs to come down to why are you buying? Are you buying because you need stability?... Well, then maybe you want to buy now if you find a house that you like and refinance later."