Inventory fell across the Winchester region residential real estate market in September compared to a year earlier, according to the Long & Foster Market Minute reports. The greater Winchester, Virginia, market includes Frederick, Shenandoah and Warren counties and the city of Winchester.

Warren County saw the median sale price increase 20 percent to $235,000, with a 12 percent drop in active inventory. Shenandoah County saw the median sale price jump 11 percent while inventory remained flat at 357 homes on the market. Compared to a year earlier, homes sold faster, dropping to an average of 62 days on the market from 73.

“The whole market is remarkable, but pretty consistent with what we’ve seen most other months of this year,” said Larry “Boomer” Foster, president of Long & Foster Real Estate. “There was a seasonal slowdown between August and September, during the start of the academic year for most schools.”

Inventory remains a challenge, but home shoppers are still looking for move-in ready, turnkey properties. Buyers today, of whom millennials make up the largest generational group, lack the appetite for home remodeling that previous generations showed. Even at a discount, a fixer upper will likely take longer to sell.

“Millennials have other things they would rather be doing,” Foster said. “They like traveling and philanthropic pursuits, not a two- or three-month project in the home they just bought.”

The Long & Foster Market Minute is an overview of market statistics based on residential real estate transactions for more than 500 local areas and neighborhoods and over 100 counties in eight states. The easy-to-read, easy-to-share reports include information about each area’s units sold, active inventory, median sale prices, list to sold price ratio, days on market and more.

Information included in this report is based on data supplied by Metropolitan Regional Information System and its member associations of Realtors, which are not responsible for its accuracy. The reports include residential real estate transactions within specific geographic regions, not just Long & Foster sales, and they do not reflect all activity in the marketplace. Information contained in this report is deemed reliable but not guaranteed, should be independently verified, and does not constitute an opinion of MRIS or Long & Foster Real Estate.