There is No “New Normal” in the Real Estate Market

“Normal” is “now”.

Homeownership Rates - via Calculated Risk

– Human settlement patterns (where people are living and working)

– Gas prices

– Expectation of permanence/transience

– Interest rates

– Property tax rates

– Monetary supply

– The internet’s availability and impact

Those are just a few of the ways that 1999 differs from 2011, and makes application of “normal” challenging.

Here’s something that hasn’t changed – people need homes. Buying a house is a choice, and one that comes with greater responsibility than renting – you’re accepting on the maintenance, the permanence, the mortgage, the community, the risk. If you’re not ready for those, don’t buy a house. If you’re ready to buy a home, do your due diligence and consider it.


“New normal” is a shifting term, applicable to virtually every evolving industry.

Heck, I’ve been seeking “new normal” for years.

But I thought I’d look at the data and briefly compare the 1999 Charlottesville area real estate market with the 2011 one … keeping in mind that so many things are different, thus negating in a lot of ways the comparisons.

1999 to 2011 - all home types

And then, looking solely at single family home sales – 1999 versus 2011 in the Charlottesville MSA:

Single family home sales - 1999 versus 2011

* I’m borrowing this theme from a speaker at a lunch I attended yesterday.

Keep in mind that this moving median home sale chart is for the Charlottesville MLSnot the Charlottesville MSA … meaning that more than anything it’s a trend line for the region.

Moving Median Home Price for Charlottesville MLS

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4 Comments

  1. Pingback: Building a (Concrete) Home in Less than a Day | | RealCentralVA.comRealCentralVA.com

  2. john stack January 23, 2012 at 10:36

    jim

    site looks good.

    js

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Entering the Downward Part of the Charlottesville Seasonal Market - RealCentralVA.com

  4. Pingback: A Short Look at the Charlottesville Real Estate Market - April 2014 - RealCentralVA.com

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