Sales were down but single-family home prices continued in the stratosphere across Fairfax County in June, as the market attempts to determine whether it will fall victim to, or ride roughshod over, challenging economic news.

A total of 1,596 properties went to closing during the month, based on data provided July 13 by MarketStats by ShowingTime based on listing activity from Bright MLS.

That’s a decline of 28.7 percent from the 2,237 transactions of June 2021, owing in part to restrained inventory on the one hand as a skittishness on the part of some prospective buyers to hop into the market during uncertain conditions on the other.

While sales were down (and pending sales down even further, but more on that later), other data points suggested the market was not exactly in dire circumstances:

• Nearly 1,200 of the roughly 1,600 sales required less than 10 days to get from listing to ratified sales contract, and another 220 required under 20 days. The average number of days on the market (10) before a contract was down from 12 a year before.

• Homes that went to closing in June across Fairfax garnered, on average, 102 percent of listing price. While down slightly from 102.9 percent a year before, that suggested ongoing strength and a boon for sellers who have priced their properties appropriately for market conditions.

The average sales price of all homes that sold during the month was $792,686, an increase of 7.9 percent, as buyers of single-family homes continued willing and able to shell out plenty of cash:

• The average sales price of single-family properties sold during the month was $1,071,899, up 9.4 percent from a year before.

• The average sales price of all attached properties – townhouses, rowhouses and condominiums – was $498,000, up 3.9 percent.

• The average sales price of condominiums was $360,413, down 2.2 percent and representing a general sluggishness in the condo market across the Washington region.

A total of 323 properties went to closing for more than $1 million, including 26 for more than $2.5 million and three for more than $5 million.

Add up all the sales and prices, and the total dollar volume of $1.24 billion in June was down 22.5 percent from a year before.

Inventory, which had been tight for much of the past year, is beginning to pick up, with the number of active listings on the market (1,584) at the end of June down just 1.7 percent from a year prior. And yet the number of new listings coming on the market in June was down 18 percent from a year before, suggesting some prospective sellers have are waiting to see which way the economic winds blow.

That quadruple-whammy – inventory challenges, high prices, high interest rates and general fears of a ongoing economic drift – is unlikely to derail the often recession-proof Northern Virginia homes market. But it is going to have an impact, with the number of pending sales reported in June down 30 percent from a year before, and the number of pending sales recorded in June down 33 percent.

Those figures will impact the sales reports in August and September. Whether still-strong sales prices and the brisk sales pace will remain so will be answered then, too.

Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All June 2022 figures are preliminary, and are subject to revision.

Copyright © 2018-21 HPR Hemlock LLC - All Rights Reserved.