BY BILL FREEHLING
Fredericksburg-area housing prices rose in August to their highest point since Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.
The median sales price for a home sold through the Multiple Listing Service locally was $234,000, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems data released Monday. That was up about 19 percent from August 2011.
Though it was the highest level since August 2008, the region's median sales price is still down about a third from the 2006 peak.
The housing figures are the latest piece of positive economic news for the region, which includes Fredericksburg and King George, Caroline, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. Last week the Virginia Department of Taxation reported that taxable sales in the area rose to their highest level in almost six years for the three months ending June 30.
There were 343 homes sold through the MLS last month in the Fredericksburg area, down about 2 percent from August 2011. Government-backed financing was used in about half the sales. Six of the total sales were for $500,000 or more, and 311 of them were detached houses.
There was about a four-month supply of homes on the local market at the end of August. That's considered a healthy balance between supply and demand.
Local homes spent 67 days on the market before selling on average, and sold for about a 5 percent discount to the list price.
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
(Aug. '12)
(July '12)
(Aug. '11)
Fredericksburg city
$264,900
$239,225
$220,000
Stafford
$275,000
$279,900
$225,000
Spotsylvania
$206,000
$205,500
$187,000
Caroline
$139,450
$145,000
$110,000
King George
$272,900
$224,850
$202,450
Orange
$175,000
$180,000
$150,000
Fauquier
$296,500
$309,950
$248,750
Culpeper
$212,500
$200,000
$190,000
Fredericksburg area**
$234,000
$229,000
$196,750
*Median is the middle price. For example, if 11 homes were sold, the median would be the price of the 6th-most expensive home (the middle one). We use this figure because extremely expensive or inexpensive homes can skew averages. The average sales price tends to be higher than the median. For example, the Fredericksburg-area average sales price for August was $247,967.
** This area-wide median home sales price includes all of Fredericksburg city, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George counties.
--Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.