How’s the Charlottesville market in mid-August 2026?

I ran into a client the other day I’d not seen since they bought and sold their homes seven years ago. They’re a bit removed from it, the way most people are when they’re not actively buying or selling. Most of what I told them is what I’ve been saying for a few weeks now.

• Some sellers are not getting what they needed or wanted, and withdrawn and expired listings are up. Tracking this number is anecdotal; the data is unreliable and inconsistent; the only way to accurately measure this is by watching the MLS every day.
• Many of those who bought new construction homes since 2020 are having their expectations shifted downward by the market.
• Prices seem to be mostly flat, broadly, while some pockets are moving with multiple offers, but most are not. Pick your market segment, and it may be a different conversation. The City detached is different from the attached County market, for example.

• Home inspections are fine, and sellers are negotiating — the cost of going back on the market is often greater than fixing that thing the buyers are asking for, and you’re going to need to fix it anyway for you or the next buyer. One of the benefits of representing people buying and/or selling is that I get to see both sides.
• Buyers have more choices and more options, and are taking longer to make significant life decisions. Renting before buying remains excellent advice.

The market analyses that I do are detailed, nuanced, and specific to my client, whether buyer or seller.

Conversational market commentary is just that – sentiment-based.

Does everything sell? Nope.

Do most things sell once they find the right band of the market? Yep.

Are some products (houses) more in demand than others? Also Yep.

It depends. It always does, on specific, measurable, quantifiable data. (and emotions, needs, wants, and expectations, and a bit of luck)

Today, I was telling the story above to a client while showing a couple houses in Charlottesville, and they said something that struck me. “I’m just not excited about this house.”

That is the difference.

In 2022, I would show my buyer client the house that had come on the market. Now, we have a bunch of houses to see, and there are options.

That’s a shift that a) is more reasonable and b) new to a lot of people looking to buy or sell in today’s market.

There’s more to the market than a blog post, or Chat, or Gemini. There’s the market, and there’s your market and how your needs/wants fit in.

Because charts are fun