We touched on the Crozet real estate market last week. Now, we’ll focus on the other half of Western Albemarle: Ivy.
Ivy has always been a bit of an anomaly in the local Charlottesville real estate market. Why? Whereas each sub-market of the local Charlottesville MSA has pockets of higher end properties, Ivy has a stronger concentration of higher priced homes than any other sub-market in our region. In 2012, for example, the average sale price of an Ivy home was $808,506. Compare that with neighboring Crozet – with a 2012 average sale price of $361,985.
After an up-and-down last couple of years, Ivy home sales rebounded in 2012. Here’s the rundown:
- Total Ivy home sales were up 7.14% in 2012 with 120 sales.
- After 2 straight years of declining median prices. 2012 median prices in Ivy were basically flat ($562,000 in 2012 vs. $562,500 in 2011)
- On a positive note, total annualized months of inventory dropped by about 12% from 2011 to 13.80 months (down from 15.74 months in 2011). In addition, 2012 year end inventory levels were down in Ivy to 106 homes…compared to 118 homes at the end of 2011.
- The average days on market for Ivy home sales in 2012 was 155 days. This was up from 134 days in 2011.
- Total volume of closed homes was up significantly (+18.6%) to $97,020,751 in 2012.
The high end market (which we categorize at Nest Charlottesville as anything above $800,000) definitely picked up significantly in 2012. The combination of lower interest rates, an improved jobs market, and increased consumer confidence has brought higher end buyers back into the marketplace…thus improving Ivy home sales.
Looking forward to 2013, we expect home sales in Ivy to continue to improve. One of the reasons for this is tied to a likely increase in new construction in Ivy. Though Ivy is a low growth area, there are several new home neighborhoods that should have increased activity in 2012. Piedmont Realty and Construction is building in Kenridge and Ivy Farms in 2013. In addition, there is a large increase in activity and interest in Ragged Mountain Farm. After a few years of low interest in Ragged Mountain, home site prices dropped in 2012 and interest immediately jumped. There are several new homes under construction in Ragged Mountain now and more expected on the horizon.
(Note: Ivy consists of the Meriwether Lewis and Murray Elementary School Districts.)