January home sales set record in Prince William

What are local real estate agents doing to weather the doom and gloom about the housing market?

“Selling like crazy,” said Lee Odems, president of the Realtors Association of Prince William.

Last month, the region recorded a January record for sales. More homes were sold than in any January since the multiple-listing system began, Odems said.

That’s good news, especially considering the area logged Virginia’s largest percentage drop in median sales price last year.

The median sales price fell 40 percent from 2007 to 2008, going from $356,952 to $212,771, according to a Feb. 12 report from George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.

But the number of sales increased by 73 percent in that same period, noted John McClain, the center’s deputy director.

The trend has continued. Odems boasted of multiple-listing data that showed 759 homes sold in January, an increase of 111 percent over January 2008’s 360 sales.

And this from a man in an industry that would seem to have little about which to boast.

“That’s the story,” said Odems, broker and owner of Buyers Advantage Real Estate Corp. in Woodbridge.

A comparison of local incomes to housing prices provides the details to that story.

Median incomes in Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park remain in the $90,000 range, Odems said, and the median sale price last month was $165,000.

That means the region has returned to a level of affordability not seen since 2001 or 2002, he said.

So prices are low, and houses are selling. The only thing missing from the market, Odems said, is consumer confidence.

Some people are worried about buying; others think they can stick it out for even lower prices.

Considering everything, though, Odems said, “I think it’s a relatively safe time to buy.”

Also, just because national numbers for the housing market may look scary, local data may not follow the same trend, he noted. Sometimes the figures can vary widely even inside a locality, or a smaller area.

“Real estate is seriously local,” Odems said.

Lately, much of the local real estate market has been focused on foreclosures.

But McClain said the drop in median sales price last year can’t all be contributed to one factor.

For example, over the past few years, the Prince William area had more homes under construction than other places, which meant more sales competition for existing homes.

That led to a much bigger imbalance between supply and demand even before homeowners started defaulting on loans in large numbers.

“It started out as a basic market overheating,” McClain said.

Getting out of the market bust will require housing prices to hit a bottom point, which foreclosures will help to find, he said.

The road there is tough, though, and means the loss of jobs in the construction and financial services sectors.

The upshot is that there are great buys out there for anyone who is looking, especially investors.

“That’s the way it always happens in these down times,” McClain said.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.