Northern Virginia Home Sales Up in January

Nearly all of Northern Virginia experienced an increase in the number of homes sold last month, according to the new Market Minute report from Long & Foster realtors.

The City of Alexandria and the counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William all increased in the number of homes sold in January, according to real estate transaction reports and data from the Metropolitan Regional Information System.

According to the report, the City of Alexandria saw a 30 percent increase in home sales when compared to January of one year ago. That was the highest increase out of all Northern Virginia regions that were analyzed.

The median price of an Alexandria home slightly decreased though, down 4 percent from $418,000 to $400,000.

Arlington County saw a 7 percent increase in homes sold, and the median sales price went down 8 percent from $590,000 to $542,500.

Fairfax County homes sold increased by 2 percent. Fairfax County was one of only two regions that experienced an increase in average price, going up 4 percent from $443,750 to $462,500.

Loudoun County home prices also increased by 3 percent from $436,500 to $450,000. However, Loudoun was the only region where the number of homes sold went down, by 2 percent.

Lastly, Prince William County saw a 10 percent increase in number of homes sold. Prices went down just 1 percent, from an average of $320,500 to $315,750.

Active inventory of homes up for sale decreased in every region--29 percent in Loudoun County, 28 percent in Prince William County, 20 percent in Fairfax County, 17 percent in the City of Alexandria, and 15 percent in Arlington.