Virginia Housing Market Shows Shift Toward Buyers

The home-sales market in Virginia is shifting slightly toward buyers, according to a pair of reports from Redfin, a real estate brokerage platform.

Buyers may be gaining negotiating power as homes sit longer on the market, though mortgage rates remain elevated. It is still a relatively solid market for sellers, but not as strong as in recent years. While prices continue to hold up, homes are taking longer to sell and more sellers are cutting prices.

U.S. pending home sales declined in early April, another sign the housing market is cooling as higher borrowing costs and affordability pressures sideline buyers.

New data from Redfin show pending sales fell 2.4 percent year over year, the steepest drop in three months. Mortgage rates climbed into the mid-6 percent range, pushing typical monthly payments to about $2,750.

Homes are also taking longer to sell, with the typical property going under contract in about 51 days — the slowest pace for this time of year since before the pandemic. At the same time, the median sale price rose about 2 percent annually to roughly $393,000.

A growing number of sellers are adjusting to weaker demand by cutting prices. Roughly one-third, or 34 percent, of listings have seen price reductions — the highest share for this time of year in more than a decade — underscoring a shift in leverage toward buyers.

In the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, sellers slashed prices on more than a quarter of homes for sale (27 percent), according to Redfin. The average price cut was about 6.1 percent, or $45,032.

Price cuts remain uneven across the country. They are most common in Sun Belt markets that saw pandemic-era booms, while tighter-inventory regions, particularly in the Northeast, have been more resilient.

Broader Redfin data show the share of homes with price drops has been rising, reflecting a market where sellers are increasingly willing to negotiate and buyers are gaining bargaining power.

The combination of slowing sales, longer listing times and more frequent price cuts points to a housing market in transition. While prices have not fallen nationally, conditions are tilting toward buyers as high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty dampen demand during what is typically the busy spring homebuying season.