Hints of upturn evident in Va. home sales

Home sales in Virginia -- including the Richmond area -- continue to fall along with housing prices, but signs are emerging that the worst could be over, according to a report released yesterday by the Virginia Association of Realtors.

"We may be past the bottom -- perhaps, perhaps," John McClain, senior fellow at George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis, said during a news media conference call about Virginia's housing market for the first quarter.

"The positive signs are the national indicators are no longer in a free fall," McClain said.

In Virginia, the median price of a house, with half selling for more and half for less, was $223,221, down 14.1 percent from the year-earlier period, according to the Realtors' report.

However, the price was up 7.8 percent from the October-to-December period of 2008, indicating that prices could have reached bottom, housing experts said.

Statewide sales in the first quarter dropped 7.1 from the previous quarter and 4.7 percent from a year ago.

In perspective, sales are down 61 percent from their peak in the third quarter of 2005.

In the Richmond area, sales fell 18.2 percent from a year ago. The median sales price dropped 11 percent to $198,702, according to the report.

"The first quarter was bad; the numbers are down pretty good from last year," said Don Atkinson, president of the Richmond Association of Realtors and general manager of Hometown Realty.

But the market turned around toward the end of March, he said.

"In April, we are seeing what appears to be a stronger market. People are starting to understand that prices are pretty doggoned good and interest rates are extremely low."

Plus, people in the market for a home for the first time in three years shouldn't let an $8,000 tax credit pass them by, he said.

"I don't think we've seen the effects of the stimulus money yet," he said, referring to the new tax credit and federal money aimed at helping people avoid foreclosures.

The boost in activity shows that the regional housing market is responding to seasonal upticks that would be expected under normal conditions, according to a report by the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service. With the recession deepening in the first quarter, many real estate experts were uncertain that the spring housing season ever would come.

Nationally, the spring selling season is getting off to a lackluster start with sales falling more than expected from February levels, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.

U.S. home sales fell 3 percent to an annual rate of 4.57 million in March from a downwardly revised pace of 4.71 million units in February, the Realtors group said.

The median U.S. sales price in March was $175,200, a plunge of 12 percent from a year ago. Prices are expected to keep sinking as long as demand remains sluggish.

The central Virginia report shows the average number of days a house spends on the market in the Richmond area fell from 81 in January to 72 in March.

Most houses sold in the Richmond area in the first quarter were in the $100,000 to $199,999 price range. The next popular price range was $200,000 to $299,999. Only six houses sold for $1 million or more.

Elsewhere in Virginia, Prince William County and Manassas -- with the most foreclosures in the state in 2008 -- recorded the sharpest increase in sales, up 75.9 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. Median sale prices there fell 37.2 percent to $167,452 -- the largest percentage drop in the state.

Sales in Northern Virginia rose 17.5 percent from a year ago, and median sales prices fell 19.5 percent to $325,400, the highest price in the state.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.