N.Va. Profile: 5 Weeks, 9 Houses, 8-Mile Move
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Saturday, March 25, 2006
So who is buying houses these days? And who is selling them?
Don't be surprised: As in so much of real estate, it all depends on location.
Nationally, the typical buyer and seller have not been statistically the same as their counterparts in the Washington area, where the frenzied housing market of recent years called for quick decisions and fat pocketbooks, according to research by the National Association of Realtors.
The national group's 2005 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was one of the largest surveys of real estate consumers ever conducted, according to the trade association. It was based on more than 7,800 responses to an eight-page questionnaire mailed to 145,000 home buyers and sellers, who purchased or sold homes from August 2004 to July 2005.
There is no comparable survey for the overall Washington area, but there is data for Northern Virginia. The Realtors group paid for an analysis of the 387 responses from its territory. The Virginia findings show that buyers typically bought faster, paid much more and stayed closer to their previous homes than their counterparts nationally.
Here's a closer look at both sets of findings:
Northern Virginia
The typical Northern Virginia buyer spent five weeks shopping, saw nine houses and moved only eight miles to the next home.
The typical home was on the market for one week. The owner had lived there for three to four years and had household income of $120,000.
The median income of entry-level Northern Virginia buyers was $86,100, and 68 percent of first-time home buyers were ages 25 to 34. First-time home buyers accounted for 38 percent of the houses bought in Northern Virginia, compared with 40 percent nationally.
The median price in Northern Virginia was $445,000, compared with $195,000 for the country. The median income of all home buyers was $104,600, compared with $71,600 nationally.
Forty percent of the homes bought in Northern Virginia were detached single-family houses. Such houses made up 75 percent of homes bought in the United States.
Nationally
The typical buyer nationally searched eight weeks, walked through nine properties and moved 12 miles from a previous residence.
