Despite the global pandemic and the economic recession, the housing market surged in 2020. Sales activity stalled in the spring, but home sales roared back in the summer and sales activity was
sustained through the end of the year. Demand for homeownership has been strong throughout the pandemic, fueled by historically low mortgage rates. The major challenge for the housing market has been a lack of supply. Declining inventory has limited options for would-be homebuyers and has
driven up home prices.
Economic Conditions
• Virginia’s economy continued to improve steadily in 2020,
with 7 consecutive months of job growth.
• The statewide unemployment rate hit 4.9% in November
and has declined steadily since the summer.
• Despite the positive economic news, it is likely that it will
take years to fully regain all of the jobs that were lost this
spring.
• Mortgage rates remain at historically low levels. The 30-
year fixed rate mortgage rate has been below 3% for 23
consecutive weeks.
Housing Market Conditions
• There were 12,525 home sales Statewide in December
2020, which is 3,067 more than December 2019, an
increase of 32.4%.
• Home prices have been up by double-digit rates for 5
months in a row. In December, the median home sales
price Statewide was $325,000, which was up 10.2%
compared to a year ago.
• Pending sales suggest that the housing market will remain
strong into early 2021. In December, there were 8,151
pending sales in Virginia, up 20.6%, compared to a year
ago.
• There were 8,876 new listings brought to the market in
December, which is a 25.4% increase over last year.
• At the end of December, there was a total of 17,542 active
listings on the market, which is 10,886 fewer than a year
ago, a 38.3% decline.
