Richmond, VA Get this data
in your Inbox

You have successfully subscribed to the local housing data e-newsletter for .

If you wish to receive monthly updates for other market areas please subscribe to new markets using our expanded form.

New Home Sales Rise in Richmond, Prices Fall According to Newest Data

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:30:52 AM

In the Richmond, VA market in January, closings of new homes rose year-over-year, moving up after a decline in December 2012. New home closings saw a 15.3% jump from a year earlier to 98. This followed a 31.0% decline year-over-year in December.

A total of 1,599 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in January, up from 1,586 for the year that ended in December.

As a percentage of overall housing closings, new home closings made up 9.4% of overall housing closings. A year ago, new home closings accounted for 8.5%. After dropping in December from a year earlier, closings of new and existing homes rose year-over-year in January.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In January, the average price for new homes was $338,041, a 3.2% decline from last year. This is a swing down from the 6.0% rise in December year-over-year.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size saw a rise year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. In January 2013, the average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 1.8% rise from a year earlier. It went from $272,527 to $274,802 from December 2011 to December 2012. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed increased 4.3 percentage points year-over-year to 87.8% in January 2013. This came after a 4.4 percentage point decline in December from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

The percentage of new home closings belonging to single-family homes has risen from last year while the portion of new home closings belonging to attached units has dropped. Single-family home closings gained from 91.8% of new closings in January 2012 to 98.0% of closings in January 2013. Conversely, the share of new home closings belonging to attached units declined to 2.0% of closings from 8.2% of closings.

There was a 14.6% drop year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 2,435 square feet in January 2013. The average size of newly sold homes moved from 2,631 square feet in December 2011 to 2,642 square feet in December 2012.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings fell in January from a year earlier, but stayed a drag on the market. Foreclosures and REO closings, taken together, made up 42.2% of existing closings, lower than 57.7% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures slipped to 22.3% in January from 26.8% a year earlier while REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings slid to 19.9% from 31.0% a year earlier.

Please refer to the ABOUT THIS MSA tab to learn more about geographic coverage and data availability in the Richmond, VA area.