July 10, 2013

Richmond Fed Survey of Virginia Realtors Shows Housing Market Improvements

Richmond, Va.

About 70 percent of Virginia Realtors say that housing market conditions were slightly or significantly better in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. A similar share of respondents also indicated that the inventory of housing was very or somewhat low, an improvement from a year earlier.

The survey, conducted in partnership with members of the Virginia Association of Realtors, focused on the state of the residential housing market in Virginia and how those conditions changed during the first quarter of 2013.

“These survey responses indicate that the housing market conditions have improved notably, compared to last year,” said Richmond Fed regional economist Andy Bauer.

“Overall market conditions, customer traffic, sales prices, inventories and financing conditions all showed improvement from last year's survey,” Bauer said. “Importantly, the inventory situation has turned with a large majority of respondents now reporting that inventories are low and that distressed properties are having less of an impact on home prices.”

VAR is the business advocate for real estate professionals in Virginia. VAR represents nearly 29,000 Realtors active in all phases of real estate brokerage, management, development and appraisal.

“A year ago at this time, Virginia was experiencing a housing market growth but calling it a recovery seemed to be premature,” said VAR President Mary Dykstra. “We are confident that the commonwealth is now in recovery and Virginia Realtors have provided a varied, but accurate picture of the housing market, in this survey.”

Bauer noted that underwriting and financing issues also showed improvement in the survey, with fewer respondents saying that buyers frequently experienced difficulty in those areas.

The survey is available at richmondfed.org.

As part of our nation’s central bank, the Richmond Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks working together with the Board of Governors to support a healthy economy and deliver on our mission to foster economic stability and strength. We connect with community and business leaders across the Fifth Federal Reserve District — including the Carolinas, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and most of West Virginia — to monitor economic conditions, address issues facing our communities, and share this information with monetary and financial policymakers. We also work with banks to ensure they are operating safely and soundly, supply financial institutions with currency that’s fit for distribution, and provide a safe and efficient way to transfer funds through our nation’s payments system.

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