City Housing Market Continues Strong; Inventory Still Limited

By STEPHEN SIEGEL
Falls Church Times Staff

January 6, 2010

The Falls Church City real estate market continues to be strong as the new year begins, although it’s not as feverish as it was last summer, when several houses were the subject of bidding wars.

The strength is for many of the usual reasons — the City’s convenient location to highways, Metro, and the employment centers of Washington and Tysons Corner — and the reputation of its schools. But a continuing small number of homes for sale continues to be a factor as well.

Jason Mandel, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, says he has buyers interested in the City who aren’t finding what they’re looking for. “They’re frustrated by the lack of inventory,” he said.

As of January 6, just 13 single family homes are on the market in the City, eight of which are on the smaller side and lower end of the City market, where the median is about $700,000. Those eight are all less than 2,100 square feet, including any basements, and are priced below $600,000.

The lowest-priced home is a 1,200 square foot Cape Cod at 518 Spring Street that needs a lot of work. It’s priced at $429,000 and has been on the market since summer, when it was originally listed at $489,000.

Buyers who want more space have to choose among just five homes, and those start at $649,900, at 999 Seaton Lane, continuing up to a huge, 7,000 square foot new construction product at 105 Cherry Street, priced at $1,349,000 by its builder and agent, Kenneth Ward of ReMax Allegiance. In between are three houses priced between $849,000 and $889,000.

The Seaton Lane home, which City records say offers about 4,000 square feet, stands out as having a lot of space for the money, compared to other listings, but hasn’t yet sold, despite a price reduction from $668,000. It’s been on the market for 42 days.

Mr. Mandel is the listing agent there, and said buyer feedback has indicated the home doesn’t have the “features” many people want, although the World War II-era home has been updated with stainless appliances and granite counters. He declined to elaborate.

At the top end is the home on Cherry, which has received several offers but not yet sold.

“The luxury market is still struggling quite a bit,” Mr. Ward said, although his spectacular and huge home has received three offers, the most recent a month ago for the full price of $1,349,000. But the buyer, who was moving from Seattle, backed out after the contract was signed, Mr. Ward said. Home buyers can generally back out without penalty during the attorney review period that follows the signing of a purchase contract.

One of the reasons the supply of homes in the City is so low is that many of them continue to sell quickly.

For example, 430 Sherrow closed in October for $525,000 after just 9 days, and 712 West Street also sold in the fall in 9 days, at a price of $725,000. More recently, 112 Marshall Street and 513 Greenwich both sold in December after just two weeks. Prices were $513,000 and $400,000, respectively.

The home at 611 Oak Haven was listed in December and sold after three days, but has not yet closed. It was priced at $499,900.