Real estate market continuing to boom, spurring buyer frustration

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The prices of houses in Charlottesville and Albemarle County are going up while the time houses are staying on the market is continuing to go down. This is leading to lots of frustration for buyers.

“It’s a it’s a challenging market for a lot of buyers because we just don’t have enough inventory available in the market,” Nest Realty Partner Jim Duncan said.

According to Duncan, quite a few properties are going for higher prices than expected. He’s seeing housing fly off the market in record time.

“I think about a third of all properties are selling for over asking price,” Duncan said. “There’s a lot of people are moving because of Zoom and COVID and they’re able to work anywhere.”

Another contributing factor is the length of time people are staying their homes.

“That generation is is at that point now where they have, they have life stability, especially now that they can work anywhere,” he said. “They’ve got their 1.7 kids and their dog, and they realize they’re where they want to be, they’ve reached a stage of life where they want to be there for 10 to 15 years.”

Duncan says depending on how long you want to stay in the area, it might be better to keep renting.

“I think if you’re not in a position to make at least a five to seven year life commitment, now might not be the time to buy because every market does turn you have done this for 20 years and the market will at some point will subside,” Duncan said.

Copyright 2021 WVIR. All rights reserved.