Brief Charlottesville Real Estate Market Update - Looking at October 2015 Year to Date

Year to Data numbers for Charlottesville and Albemarle

Stability in the Charlottesville – Albemarle real estate market (for the most part) continues …

I’m a bit all over the board this month, as I’m looking at a few broad and a few specific data points. Short story – stability continues. Mostly. A few points that piqued my interest:

– Are single family home sales up or down? Year to date in Albemarle County, sales are up about 6%, median price is down about $2K to $384,900. In the City of Charlottesville, sales are down about 4%; median price is up nearly $4K to $299,500. I’m calling this stable. Broadly.

– New construction: up or down? Albemarle County year to date — from 125 closed single family to 148* and the City of Charlottesville is up from 21 to 28. I suspect this trend will continue and December’s going to reflect some significant increases in closed new construction transactions. I’ll address this in January’s note.

– Price per square foot for New Single Family Homes in Albemarle – 2015/2014
Median Price per foot – $175/$172
Median total finished square feet – 3,137 / 3,008

–Price per square foot for New in Charlottesville – 2015/2014
Median Price per foot – $188/$180
Median total finished square feet – 2,130/2,107

As an aside, Crozet has accounted for 20% of closed new construction in Albemarle County; the same as last year.

Growing home sizes is frustrating. Bigger isn’t always better, although, as pointed out in the comments, energy efficiency is mitigating some of the impacts of the growing house size.

“In response to your November note: “Growing home sizes is frustrating. Bigger isn’t always better.”
I agree, but having a larger home that accommodates 30+ friends for a “Friendsgiving” party makes the extra square footage worth it! Plus, with more energy efficient homes, utility bills are shrinking which makes heating/cooling/electrical bills much more affordable. My newer energy efficient home uses less energy than a Town home I rented waiting for my house to be built that was half the size.”

I’m hearing more and more comments from clients about new homes’ energy bills. That’s a good thing.

But …

Each year, the United States generates about 160 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris — which accounts for about two-thirds of all non-industrial solid waste generation in the country, according to a 2009 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The same source reports that only about 20 to 30 percent of this debris — including asphalt, concrete, metals and wood — is collected and recycled. When it’s not recycled, this waste occupies valuable landfill space and consumes additional energy for transportation to, and storage at, the waste site. In addition to the energy expenditure of construction — including fuel burned during transportation, and electricity and gas used during building — homes account for about 39 percent of total energy consumption in the United States, according to the EPA. This includes 12 percent of the country’s water consumption, 68 percent of its electricity consumption and 38 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions.

Brief Charlottesville Real Estate Market Update – Looking at October 2015 Year to Date

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