Inventory is up in the Charlottesville area

Buyers, Sellers (and Realtors) would do well to take note of this chart depicting inventory numbers for residential properties in Charlottesville and Albemarle. The short analysis: Houses are taking much longer to sell and buyers are being more demanding and patient. Sellers have to be prepared to negotiate in a way that they have not needed to before. The number of sales, year over year comparison, is almost half that of 2006.

*ignore the “months inventory” column for “current 2007”

Taking condos out of the mix:

All-inclusive – Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna and Greene:

From the Wall Street Journal:

Large inventories have caused prices to level off or fall modestly in much of the country over the past year or so. The recent surge in defaults on subprime mortgages — loans to people with blemished credit records — has prompted lenders to tighten credit standards. That tightening is expected to put downward pressure on home prices by removing many potential buyers from the market.

*Note: I would love to be able to show this data graphically as a line graph, but am unable to do so right now.
* Source: Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors MLS, whose data is “good enough”