Maryland Real Estate News and Discussion

Foreclosures continue to decline, short sale market share up

Rockville, MD –(February 10, 2012) – The following analysis of the Baltimore Metro Area housing market has been prepared by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), and is based on the January 2012 RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ released today.

OVERVIEW
Baltimore Metro Area listing inventory ended January at the lowest level since April 2006, yet new contract activity was 2.5% higher than January 2011. Pricing continued along a stable course with a nominal year-over-year decline but the median sold price for townhouses showed a surprising year-over-year spike of 22.6%.  The market share of foreclosed listings in both sales and inventory continued the previous month’s trend of sharp year-over-year declines. New listing activity continued to decline compared to the same period last year, though there were 16.9% more short sales added in January compared to January 2011.

Read the entire article: Low Inventory Remains the Story in Baltimore Metro Market

2011 continued the transitional period for the Baltimore Metro real estate market, including Anne Arundel and Howard Counties. Falling supply and increased demand were two of the positive highlights in our region. Some other patterns emerged as well in most counties:

• Pending sales increased 16.7%
• Inventory dropped 21.6%
• Months supply dropped almost 25% (5-6 months is considered healthy)

The 2012 Spring selling season will tell us a lot more about where we stand in the recovery. Watch the entire video now.

According to a report originally aired on NPR on October 17, 2011 there are signs of recovery in many markets, even those that were the hardest hit. The signs, however, appear in varying degrees from price stabilization to “subdued bidding wars”. The good news for us here in the Maryland/Virginia/Washington, DC housing markets is that the “bidding wars” are happening right here.

“In 2011, we’re seeing a lot of first-time buyers re-entering the market. Bidding wars have once again returned; they’re just not as frenzied as they once were,” she says. “You might have two or three people bidding instead of 25. You might have an increase of $10- or $15,000, rather than hundreds of thousands. But they have to be perfect in this market. You cannot just throw anything out there … and expect that there will be people lined up at the door.”

Listen to the entire report.

Housing Recovery At Various Stages Around The U.S.

New York, November 29, 2011 – “Data through September 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that nationally home prices did not register a significant change in the third quarter of 2011, with the U.S. National Home Price Index up by only 0.1% from its second quarter level. The national index posted an annual decline of 3.9%, an improvement over the 5.8% decline posted in the second quarter. Nationally, home prices are back to their first quarter of 2003 levels.

As of September 2011, the annual rate of change in 14 of the 20 MSAs and both Composites, covered by S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, improved versus August. Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa recorded lower annual declines in September compared to August. Detroit and Washington DC were the only two MSAs to post positive annual rates of +3.7% and +1.0% respectively. Detroit has now recorded three consecutive months of positive annual rates.”

Read the entire S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Report

This, yet again, underscores the importance of reading beyond the headlines. There is no question that some real estate markets in the US are still in crisis but in the DC/VA/MD regions, we are fortunate to have markets that were strong enough to withstand the downturn relatively well and begin to see a rebound more quickly.

New York, October 25, 2011 – Data through August 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed increases of +0.2% for the 10- and 20-City Composites in August versus July. Ten of the 20 cities covered by the indices also saw home prices increase over the month. In addition, 16 of the 20 MSAs and both Composites posted improved annual returns compared to July’s data; Los Angeles and Miami saw no change in annual returns in August; and Atlanta and Las Vegas saw their annual rates of change fall deeper into negative territory. The 10- and 20-City Composites posted annual returns of -3.5% and -3.8% versus August 2010, respectively. At -8.5%, Minneapolis posted the lowest year-over-year return, but has improved in each of the last three months. Detroit and Washington DC were the only two cities to post positive annual returns of +2.7% and +0.3% respectively.

As we say time and time again, real estate markets are local not national so we will never pass up an opportunity to report not only GOOD news but ACCURATE news for our market here in MD/VA/DC. Down the full report now:

10/25/2011 Case-Shiller Home Index Report

It’s a fact that our market lost 20%+ in home values during the economic downturn but we also enjoy a relatively low employment rate in the Anne Arundel County/Annapolis area and there are tremendous opportunities for just about any level of home buyer.