Northern Virginia Home Inventory Falls to 4-Year Low

Northern Virginia Home Inventory Falls to 4-Year Low
July 21, 2009 7 Comments
by Will Smith

The total available for-sale housing inventory in Northern Virginia is at its lowest point in four years, reports the blog Northern Virginia Housing Bubble Fallout. According to statistics from the region’s multiple listings service, the number of available listings on the market is approximately 7,500. In 2006, the available inventory was almost three times that.

Northern Virginia is defined as Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Loudoun, Manassas City, Manassas Park, and Prince William. In the outside-the-beltway counties of Loudoun and Prince William, available inventory is actually below July 2005 levels, further evidence that while those regions were hit first and hardest by the housing collapse, they have also rebounded the quickest.

There are two schools of thought on the Northern Virginia housing market. Some believe that it is well on its way to recovery, and that statistics like these prove their case. Skeptics argue that the current housing inventory numbers are overly optimistic because they do not include the “shadow inventory” of foreclosed homes that banks have yet to put on the market.

Below is a graph from VirginiaMLS.com of the available inventory for each of the nine cities and counties in Northern Virginia from August 2005 to the present. It shows how inventory swelled from 2005 to 2007, only to plummet beginning in early 2008.