In this post, I’m taking a look at single family homes in the City of Charlottesville.  Whether you live in Woolen Mills, North Downtown, Rugby, Greenbrier, Robinson Woods, or any other great Charlottesville neighborhood…take note!

Don’t have time for a long analysis and want a quick synopsis of 2010 Charlottesville city real estate?  OK, here you go: pretty much nothing has changed since last year.  

You heard it right.  Inventory is about the same.  Sales are about the same.  List to Sale ratios are about the same.  Median price is off less than 3%.  Days on Market are down slightly.

We’re actually a little surprised.  Typically, as we segment the market out, we’re seeing sales up year-over-year…and inventory levels up a very comparable amount.  We’re also tending to see median sales price and average sales price down somewhere in the 6-10% range since 2009.

Not for single family homes in the City.  We’re basically at the same point in 2010 that we were in 2009.

I’m going to re-visit this in another month or so to see if single family homes in Charlottesville in 2010 have picked up any as compared to 2009.  In the mean time, check out this almost identical chart….

There are definitely pockets of Charlottesville that are outperforming other parts of Central Virginia.  Actually, I could probably make the argument that a few small pockets (Martha Jefferson Neighborhood, North Downtown, Lewis Mountain neighborhood) in the City may actually be appreciating (gasp…remember that word?).   Those unique areas/streets are typically located within walking distance to the Downtown Mall in parts where the homes are in great condition and full of character.

However, overall, Charlottesville real estate has suffered just like other parts of the County (and the Country).  Because of location, some Charlottesville neighborhoods (like Belmont, for example) rode the real estate wave to the peak…and have, therefore, had a long fall from the top.  Investors definitely pumped up prices in certain pockets of Charlottesville.

Charlottesville home sale numbers haven’t quite recovered like some other parts of Central Virginia (like Ivy, for example, where home sales are showing signs of recovery).  2009 Charlottesville home sales were off about 15% from 2008…and 2008 numbers were off about 12% from 2007.  The final quarter of 2009 did show some positive momentum in that sales were up over the same period in 2008.

Here is a quick overview of some other signs in the Charlottesville real estate market:

- Overall 2009 Inventory (8.79 months) is slightly higher than 2008 (8.03) and 2007 (7.86)

- Total sales volume was about $20 million lower in 2009 than 2008 (from $110m to about $90m)

- List-to-sale ratios were down again in 2009…though slightly.  In 2009, Charlottesville homes sold for approximately 95.11% of their final list price.  In 2008, it was 95.79% and 2007 was 97.39%

- Days on Market in 2008 (102 days) vs. 2009 (100 days) are essentially a wash

So, there still seems to be some downward movement in Charlottesville real estate.  The positive signs are that things seem to be correcting.  As prices drop a little more, I expect to see sales jump.  We’re definitely seeing buyers in the marketplace…they’re just waiting for the right opportunity.