Everyone Says It's Still a Bidding War Out There. Is It?

If you've been hearing that Richmond is still one giant bidding war, you're probably thinking or wanting one thing: to know whether that's actually true before you make a move.

So let's ask the question straight. Is this still the frantic, over-asking market everyone keeps describing?

Here's what the data actually says. Across the territory, the median home sale closed at 100% of list price. Not over. Not under. At it. And the median home took 51 days to sell, based on 657 completed sales over the source period.

Let's sit with that for a second. A 51-day median isn't a market where buyers are camped out on the sidewalk. It's a market where a seller lists a home and waits roughly seven weeks for the right buyer to show up and agree on a price.

Let's look at why the "still a bidding war" feeling persists anyway. Fewer homes sold this period across the territory, 657, compared with 797 during the same period a year earlier. New listings and active inventory both pulled back too. When less comes onto the market and less moves through it, the perception of scarcity sticks around even after the pace itself has cooled.

Let's get local, because this territory isn't one market, it's several.

Glen Allen moved fast this period, with one Glen Allen ZIP posting a median of about 40 days to pending and the other close behind at roughly 40 days to pending as well.

Henrico tells a more complicated story. One Henrico ZIP posted a median of just 24 days to pending, among the fastest in the territory. Another Henrico ZIP ran far slower, at about 43 days to pending. That's one label, Henrico, covering two very different paces, which is exactly why a territory-wide number can flatten what's really happening street to street.

Let's talk price. Across the territory, the median sold price came in at $468,750, up from $450,000 during the same period a year earlier.

Let's translate all this into something useful. A slower median days-on-market number means a house today, an opinion tomorrow. A 100% sale-to-list ratio means priced right, sold at price. Sellers still get their number, they just don't get it in a week.

What does this mean if you're selling? Price to the market that exists now, not the one from the height of the frenzy. What does this mean if you're buying? You likely have more room to think than the headlines suggest, but you're still not walking into a discount market. A 51-day median and a 100% sale-to-list ratio can both be true at once, and together they describe a market that's calmer, not weaker.

Now, let's recap. Median days to sell: 51, not overnight. Sale-to-list: 100%, sellers still get their number. Homes sold: down from 797 to 657. Prices: up, to $468,750. Pace: varies sharply even within one label like Henrico.

So back to the question we started with: is it still a bidding war out there? The measured answer is no, it's a market that still rewards a well-priced home, just on a longer clock.

If you're weighing whether to list this fall, or wondering how your specific block compares to these numbers, tell me your neighborhood and I'll walk you through exactly what's happening there.

Don Reid