Total new-home closings: 1,941
Population: 1,716,624
The good: An increase in market share occurred in early 2015 among single-family homes.
The bad: Closings are down, even with decreases in square footage and prices.
The bottom line: With the warmest months ahead, builders posted a 13% year-over-year increase in year-to-date permits in March 2015, showing confidence that the new-homes market will reach high tide again.
As new-home closings and average square footages dropped in Virginia Beach—despite decreasing prices—the market showed signs of an outward tide in early 2015. Foreclosures and REOs both decreased in February 2015 year over year, but with a 38.7% share of existing closings, continue to be a burden on the market. An increase in the market share of single-family homes shows a beacon of hope, increasing by 14.9% year over year to 91.8% in February 2015, but those homes will fetch less money, following a decrease in the average square footage of new homes of 5.9% year over year in February and a drop in the average new-home price over the same period of 5.7%. That said, a 13% year-over-year increase in year-to-date single-family building permits in March shows that builders are still searching for a wave to surf in 2015.
