“Competitive” is the most widely used word to describe the housing market in Virginia. But how competitive are the local housing markets? To understand this, we looked at trends of three important statistics that indicate competitiveness—median sales price, average sold-to-asked price ratio, and median days on market for Virginia’s counties and cities. Below are the markets that have either seen the most growth, a slowdown, or a flattening in competitiveness when comparing year-to-date (YTD) 2023 numbers with year-to-date (YTD) 2024 numbers. For this article, we have only included local markets that have had 100 or more sales so far this year.

Median Sales Price

Median sales price in Nelson County went up 24.7% in the first five months of the year, compared to the same period last year. This was followed by sales price increases in Lynchburg and Charlottesville. James City County, Orange County, and Fluvanna County saw prices stay in the same range over the two periods. On the other hand, Manassas saw a decline in the median sales price between YTD 2024 and YTD 2023, along with Prince George County and Rockbridge County.

Average Sold-to-Asked Price Ratio

While sellers in Wythe County didn’t sell their homes for higher than their asking price, there has been an increase in the average sold-to-asked price ratio between YTD 2023 and YTD 2024 in the county. There was a similar increase in the ratio over the same time for Washington County and Petersburg. The average sold-to-list price ratio has stayed consistent in Suffolk, Pulaski County, and James City County. King George County has seen the sharpest decline in the average sold-to-asked price ratio. Sellers, on average, would get above their asking price between January and May 2023, but they got below their asking price, on average, in the first five months of 2024. There has been a similar trend observed in Winchester and Westmoreland County.

Median Days on Market

Between YTD 2023 and YTD 2024, Westmoreland County saw homes selling faster with the median days on market going down by 20 days. Prince George County and Northumberland County also saw a similar trend in which homes sold faster than they did in the previous year. Fairfax, Prince William County, and Hanover County continue to sell homes quickly but the median days on market has stayed consistent between 2023 and 2024. On the other hand, homes were staying on the market for significantly longer in Nelson County, Pittsylvania County, and Page County.

For more information on housing, demographic and economic trends in Virginia, be sure to check out Virginia REALTORS® other Economic Insights blogs and our Data page.