Calvert County Maryland Real Estate Market Report, December 2007
January 14, 2008 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Here’s the latest on the current Calvert County real estate
market! Sluggish sales trends are continuing to force prices down while
making it increasingly difficult to get a home sold due to the market
pressure.
What’s Good:
The number of active, available homes on the market has fallen again. As fewer and fewer homes are listed
for sale, the difficulty in selling should (at least in theory) ease. June of last year saw over 1,100 active listings, while in
December that number was closer to 950. There’s a couple of reasons
for this.
First, many people don’t like to deal with the hassle of trying
to sell their home in the middle of winter. Holiday stress is high
enough without having to worry about people showing up at all hours of
the day to tour your home. I expect that the number to climb again as
the spring approaches, and you can see that historically, the number of
active listings always falls during the holiday season.
The second reason is that a number of homeowners have decided to
rent their home rather than sell it, so as homes are rented out they
are no longer listed for sale. Creative moves like this are becoming a
serious option to more and more people these days.
The average sales price of a home in Calvert County did manage to rise again this month, but buyers continue to sit on the fence and sellers get more anxious, and with sales and pending settlements at a 10 year low, I don’t see this as indicative of a market improvement, but rather it is skewed by a few sales of select large homes.
What’s Bad:
Sales rates have continued to fall, as
have the number of pending settlements. This figure is particularly
disheartening to sellers right now because it underlines the difficulty
the are currently experiencing. Traditionally sales tend to pick up
once winter ends and I know quite a few sellers who are anxious to see the cold weather snap and the rate of sales rise.
The average number of days on market has jumped again. at over
175 days, this is the highest Charles County has seen in 7 years.
While this should not be a surprise, it does not look like it is going
to change anytime soon, and I would anticipate that this will continue
to climb while the market deflates.
Wrap Up:
The Housing Slump continues to place pressure on the local Southern Maryland real estate marketplaces. Foreclosures
are also continuing to rise with many lenders anticipating an increase
in foreclosure this year over 2007. Lending criteria is also
continuing to creep upwards while interest rates have managed to hit a
2-year low this past week. Be sure to check back every month to see
the latest analysis of what’s going on in your back yard!
~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
