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More than 3,000 homes in the Hampton Roads region went under contract in April 2019. This is 15.07% more pending contracts than in April 2018, a significant increase. Even more noteworthy, four of the region’s seven major cities experienced year-over-year increases between 30-60%! In April, 4,545 new listings were added to the market (4,290 of those residential homes), an increase of 3.70% over the same period of time last year. Despite this influx, the region’s residential active listings for April 2019 dropped 7.09% year-over-year. This is the 45th consecutive month that active listings have declined year-over-year. Of the region’s seven major cities (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton and Newport News), Suffolk was the only city to experience an increase in inventory, up a slight 1.76% year-over-year. Hampton and Portsmouth underwent the most substantial declines at 21.91% and 12.31% respectively.    April’s supply of residential home inventory is currently at 3.85 months, down 9.62% from April 2018. This is the 48th consecutive month that the months’ supply of inventory has declined year-over-year. Of the region’s seven major cities, Suffolk’s month’s supply is the highest at 4.72 months, still significantly below the six months that is typically considered a balanced market.   3,123 homes went under contract in April 2019, a rise of 15.07% compared to April 2018. This continues the trend where 58 of the past 59 months have exhibited increases. Four of the region’s major cities experienced weighty year-over-year increases over 30%: Portsmouth 30.14%, Norfolk 45.57%, Hampton 47.53%, and Suffolk 57.93%. Newport News and Chesapeake were the only major cities to undergo declines in pending sales, down 3.93% and 3.67% respectively.  REIN

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Distressed Listings and Sales Down
(Virginia Beach, Virginia – April 2019) The number of distressed homes in the Hampton Roads region, those that are either short sales or foreclosures, has significantly decreased. In March 2019, distressed homes accounted for only 8.36% of all residential active listings, the lowest recording since REIN began tracking this data in August 2009. Similarly, distressed homes accounted for just 8.28% of all residential settled sales in March 2019, down 2.81% yearover-year. Despite a 2.54% bump in the number of listing from February to March, the region’s residential active listings for March 2019 dropped 6.17% year-over-year. This is the 44th consecutive month that active listings have declined year-over-year. Of the region’s seven major cities (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton and Newport News), Norfolk was the only city to experience an increase in inventory, up 5.55% year-over-year. The remaining six cities underwent declines ranging between 4.69% and 14.17%. March’s supply of residential home inventory is currently at 3.71 months, down 9.73% from the same period of time last year. This is the 47th consecutive month that the months’ supply of inventory had declined year-over-year. The months’ supply for six of the seven major cities is below 4 months. Suffolk is the highest with a current inventory at 4.49 months, still significantly below the six months that is typically considered a balanced market. The number of homes that went under contract in March 2019 (2,708 units) rose a modest 2.58% compared to March 2018, continuing a trend where 57 of the past 58 months have exhibited increases. Three of the region’s major cities experienced a year-over-year decline in pending sales, Portsmouth (-.63%), Virginia Beach (-2.73%) and Norfolk (-5.03%). The remaining 4 cities underwent increases between 3.08% and 14.93%. Similarly, the region’s settled sales for March rose 1.90% year-over-year, closing only 43 more homes than in March 2018. Of the region’s major cities, all Southside locals experienced a year-over-year decrease
in the number of homes sold (ranging from -.63% to -9.09%), while on the Peninsula both Hampton and Newport News saw an increase in sales year-over-year at 31.45% and 8.77% respectively. The area’s residential median sales price for March 2019 was $229,900, down a marginal .04% from March 2018 when it was $230,000. Five of the region’s major cities (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Hampton) experienced gains in median sales price, rising between 2.37% and 11.63%. The remaining two cities (Chesapeake and Newport News) saw declines between 0.80% - 1.59%.

The 30-year-fixed rate fell from 4.28% to 4.06%. Home sales jump expected as buyers rush to take advantage

Average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined by 22 basis points from 4.28 percent to 4.06 percent, resulting in the biggest single-week decline in rates since 2008, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Survey released on Thursday.

Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said the drop is due to the Federal Reserve’s economic outlook, which predicted slowing economic growth.

“The Federal Reserve’s concern about the prospects for slowing economic growth caused investor jitters to drive down mortgage rates by the largest amount in over ten years,” he explained in a prepared statement.

Freddie Mac chief deputy economist Leonard Kiefer responded to the Primary Mortgage Survey results through a series tweets, which drove home the point how rare the 22 basis point drop is.

“One-week changes this large are pretty unusual,” he explained on a tweet accompanied by a color-coded chart listing weekly mortgage rate trends over the past 48 years.

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