75% of sales over the past 12 months were for single family (detached, stand-alone) homes. Townhomes take up 17% of home sales, and duplexes 7%. The good news for our local economy is that all three property types saw an increase in sales from January’s 12-month sales number.

The median sales price for single family homes over the past year is $195,000, which is 0.4% higher than January’s 12-month median price. Townhouses sold for median price of $136,950 (no change), and duplexes for $215,000 (up 1.2%). With prices increasing slightly and inventory decreasing slightly (see “Inventory Comparison” tab), we’re seeing a very small shift toward a stronger seller’s market.

Occasionally, we’ll see homes sell over their final asking price, which can be attributed to a bidding war, a change in value, upgrades made during the time on market, or a number of other reasons. Over the past 12 months, 83 homes (or 7.9% of total sales) in Harrisonburg-Rockingham have sold over their final asking price, which is up 2.1% from January’s 12-month number.

Comparing the first two months of this year to the first two months of last year, we saw that in January, year-to-date (YTD) sales dropped by nearly 10%, but in February, YTD sales are up nearly 12%. More importantly, contracts are up almost 23%, which promises even more sales to come! Another positive: sales prices and average price per square foot are both up. As of now, properties are sitting on the market for a longer period of time, but as we see a rise in Buyer Urgency, this will contribute to a lower timeframe in the coming months.

Penn Laird — located between the City of Harrisonburg and McGaheysville along Route 33 East — surpasses other towns in our area by quite a margin in terms of average sales price. Here, you can expect to purchase a home for about $280k, whereas in McGaheysville, you can expect to pay roughly $210k for a home. If you’re looking to live in the city: $185k is the average.

When sellers decide to list their property, they typically like to know how long they can expect to have to wait before a contract gets written on their home. How quick are buyers reacting? Buyer urgency is the rate at which buyers are committing to purchase homes within the first 30 days of a home’s list date. We expect this number to increase throughout the spring and summer months because the market tends to “heat up” during that time of year. Over the past 12 months, 59 homes went under contract within 30 days of being on the market, which is up almost 23% compared to January’s buyer urgency!

Over the past 12 months, there have been 1,897 homes on the market, and 1,487 new listings in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. This is down 0.5% and 0.7% from January’s 12-month inventory, respectively. A smaller number of homes on the market is good for sellers because there is less to choose from for buyers. It’s simply a matter of supply and demand. However, there are still plenty of homes available for sale, so buyers, do not lose heart!

The $151k – $250k price range has been the most popular for buyers over the past 12 months, with 286 homes selling without experiencing a price reduction, and 168 homes being reduced at least once. In each price category, more homes sell without a price drop and at a much faster pace (116 days on market compared to 273 for those with price reductions). Moral of the story: price your home competitively from the start!

For homes that did not experience any price reductions over the past year, the City of Harrisonburg saw 227 sales (64% of total city sales). Massanutten Resort saw only 28 sales without price cuts (52% of total resort sales), but this is due to the smaller amount of inventory. Most areas saw more than 60% of sales without price changes.

Single family homes are by far the most sold homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in all price ranges, but in the $151k – $250k range, they far exceed townhouse and duplex sales. If you’re looking to purchase at $250k or lower, you’ll have much more variety of property type to choose from. Townhouse sales have seen the only decrease in sales (8.5%) since last year at this time, whereas duplex sales have increased substantially at 28.3%.