October Residential Real Estate Outperforms Last Year in Pace and Price October 2015 Virginia residential real estate sales exceed 2.7 billion dollars

RICHMOND, Va. – November 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — October residential real estate sales indicate sustained market improvement, with a rise of over five percent from the same time period last year. Higher volume coupled with a higher median sales price accounts for the bump in overall transactional value from $2.59 to $2.72 billion. According to the October 2015 Home Sales Report released by the Virginia Association of REALTORS® (VAR), sales each month this year have exceeded the sales for the corresponding months in 2014.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate decreased in October for the third consecutive month and has decreased year-over-year from 4.04 to 3.80 percent. Recent announcements by the Federal Reserve suggesting a December hike in interest rates may motivate buyers into the market. Consumer confidence may be bolstered by steady improvement in the national unemployment rate. Supporting other indicators of long term market improvement, days on the market have decreased by 2.5 percent to 78 from 80 in October 2014.