Welcome to the Mon County Market Snapshot brought to you by White Diamond Realty. 

This is a big one! The graphic shows the annual numbers comparing all of 2022 to 2021. Below are the month of December and 4th Quarter stats:

Detached Home Sales December 2022/4th Qtr 2022

  • 9% Decrease in Units from 70 to 68/18.5% Decrease from 232 to 189
  • 8% Decrease in Marketing Time from 36 Days to 35/11.1% Decrease from 36 to 32
  • 6% Increase in Sales Price from $306,099 to $356,862/15.4% Increase from $314,411 to $362,830

Attached Home Sales December 2022/4th Qtr 2022

  • 1% Decrease in Units from 35 to 22/24.5% Decrease from 98 to 74
  • 6% Increase in Marketing Time from 17 Days to 63/56.0% Increase from 25 to 39
  • 2% Increase in Sales Price from $220,677 to $230,013/13.6% Increase from $216,329 to $245,739

Current Market

  • 145 Active Residential Properties
  • 114 Contingent Residential Properties
  • 3 Months Inventory = Seller’s Market

Takeaways 

  • The decrease in units is neither surprising, nor catastrophic
  • Slowing of the marketing time, but still faster than historic norms
  • Values are stating strong in part due to inventory staying low

Further Thoughts 

There is a lot to unpack here, so I’m only going to hit a couple highlights. First, when I do the annual statistics, I always average appreciation over the previous 5 years. The average appreciation rate for Detached homes per year now stands at 5.6%, and for Attached homes 6.2% which is the highest I’ve ever seen it. These numbers are historically in the 4s and 2s respectively here in Monongalia County, which is strong due to our myriad economic opportunities. The current appreciation averages clearly illustrate the last two years of inflated pricing, and overall shows the change was significant but not out of this world. The more significant increase in the townhouse average is due to one of two negative years dropping off the calculation. The low in the past five years was -1.2% in 2020 with the high being last year at +12.8%. This is why it’s important to look at a wider span of time when evaluating our overall market health. Second, as I’ve done recently, I compared this year’s market to 2019 which I feel is a more apples to apples view now that we’re past the Covid market. Our unit sales were lower than 2019, but only by four units! What does this mean? It means despite the headlines and rates increasing, we still have a healthy amount of people buying. Not only are they buying with the rates being 3 points higher than 2019, but they’re buying with the average sales price being $70,000 more! I have said it before, and I will say it again – this is a healthy rate adjustment, not a bubble.

The year of 2022 was a banner one on many levels, but also very good. I am looking forward to 2023 being more navigable and opening up opportunities to those who were bid out of buying during these last two years. Rents are increasing even more than mortgage rates, so I anticipate a lot of people holding back will be coming out of the woodwork and finally making their American dream come true.

Never high-pressure sales. Always high-quality service. Ready to elevate your real estate experience? We can be reached by phone at 304-241-7500, email at info@whitediamondrealty.net, or online at whitediamondrealty.net. Feel free to connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too! Just search and follow White Diamond Realty LLC to get updates on all things real estate and our community as a whole. Tune in next month to see what direction I decide to take this segment, as I think it’s time to shake things up a bit. In the meantime hop on that tread mill, eat that salad, and look forward with hope and optimism to a most excellent new year…