Contact MargaretArchive for the 'Market Updates' Category
Crofton Real Estate Sales Up in April
May 12th, 2010 Categories: Market Updates
Crofton real estate sales were up last month, no matter how you measure the numbers. April sales units increased 29% from March 2010 and 41% from April 2009.
Yet average and median sold prices have been relatively stable since last year, as you can see on this chart tracking April statistics in Crofton for five years:
The numbers are less favorable when I compare them with last month… in fact the average (-10.5%) and median (-15.7%) sold price are both down substantially since March 2010.
The best news on this chart may be the average days on market – just 47, compared to 129 a year ago. Measuring against last month, the days on market are down 74%. That’s news which buyers and sellers can both appreciate!
The tax credit deadline of April 30 no doubt had some impact on the real estate market last month. From my own experience, however, all three of my April buyers were motivated by factors other than the tax credit. One couple pushed up their timing a bit to take advantage of it., but they would have purchased within the next 60 days.
Only time will tell how many Crofton homebuyers (and sellers) may have been motivated to change their timing because of the tax credit. My concern is that we may experience a turn-down of activity over the summer. Stay tuned…
Coming Friday: April 2010 real estate statistics for Odenton, Gambrills and Davidsonville Maryland
__________________________
FocusOnCrofton.com is your one-stop source for information about Crofton, Maryland, and the surrounding area. It’s my way of keeping current residents informed about their community and real estate matters while also attracting relocating home buyers to the Crofton area (including Bowie, Crownsville, Davidsonville, Fort Meade, Gambrills, Millersville and Odenton). Please feel free to contact me any time for more information about these communities.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Prices Up Last Month in Crofton
April 14th, 2010 Categories: Market Updates
Fortunately, there was a reversal during March of the dip in Crofton MD home prices last year. Both the average and median sold prices for homes in the Crofton zipcode were up from the previous year and, in fact, they were higher than the month of March for the three previous years. Take a look at this chart:
Other good news last month included the drop in “average days on market” to the lowest level for the same month since 2006 – over 10% just since March 2009.
The number of homes sold and settled has been relatively stable for two years.
Looking at the numbers a little differently, the average sold price has been going up each month since December while, during the same period, the median sold price has been on a roller coaster… up and down.
If you’d like to see what’s happening in your neighborhood, you can request a free Market Snapshot… or give me a call, and I’ll be happy to talk to you about the real estate market in your immediate area.
Crofton real estate is holding its own in this market, and that’s good news for all of us who own property here.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Is Crofton Real Estate Still Improving?
March 14th, 2010 Categories: Market Updates
After a record-breaking month of 160% growth for Crofton MD in “Units Sold” during January 2010 (13) from January 2009 (5), February offered us much more sobering statistics. In fact, the number of “Units Sold” in February 2010 (9) was down over 30% from the same month in 2009 (13).
The average sold price was up over 8% from February last year ($316.215) to this ($343,867) – a smaller increase than we saw last month, BUT, February’s average price was higher than it was in January 2010.
The 3.8% median sold price increase from February 2009 ($313,000) to this year ($324,900) was unimpressive – BUT the median price in February was almost $35,000 higher than it was in January 2010.
Okay… I know it’s confusing to read all these numbers in a narrative format, so I put together this chart of real estate statistics for the month of February over five years. That will help you put this information in perspective.
Now let’s look at the past six months for some of these statistics:
The numbers may appear small on some computer screens. If you have trouble reading them, click on “View” in the tabs above your browser bar and then click on “zoom”. When you zoom “in” the images should appear larger. (Firefox)
After all this, would you say that Crofton real estate is still improving? Here’s my analysis…
Crofton MD seems to be holding its own, when it comes to the average and median sold price. The days on market, however, have been trending “up” since December and the number of units sold in 2010 have been many fewer than the last few months of 2009. Not consistently great news, but not bad (given the state of the real estate market in other parts of the country).
I won’t complain.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Has the Real Estate Market Stabilized?
March 1st, 2010 Categories: Market Updates
3–COUNTY YEAR END REAL ESTATE STATISTICS
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Howard County, Maryland
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Our regional multiple listing system, The Metropolitan Regional Information Services, Inc. (MRIS), tracks real estate sales and periodically makes the numbers available to members. You’ve seen my monthly reports for Crofton and other nearby zipcodes here on Focus On Crofton and my Maryland Real Estate Blog, and you know that I like to use this information to compile charts and graphs of several years or several months to help you put those numbers in perspective.
For this year-end report, I’m approaching the real estate market on a more macro level – with a county-wide report which includes the three counties where I list and sell homes. These numbers represent only properties that were listed on MRIS (the majority of real estate sales), both detached and attached homes, in a broad price range ($100,000 – $5 million).
Days on Market have leveled off for Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties and even dropped slightly in Howard County. Of course, 2005 was a record year, so I don’t think it’s realistic to expect those levels again for a very long time… maybe decades.
Sold Prices (both average and median) are lower now than any of the four previous years but, fortunately, the drop has not been nearly as dramatic as other parts of the country have experienced. I speculate that the BRAC factor and government jobs throughout the region have helped this area in that regard.
Units Sold is a category that seems to have bottomed out and shown a slight bump from 2008–2009 in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties and a significant increase in Prince George’s County:
-
Up 8.75% in Anne Arundel County
-
Up 7.64% in Howard County
-
Up 42.98% in Prince George’s County
My crystal ball is a little fuzzy, as to what we should expect in 2010, so I can’t realistically declare that the worst is over. I’m cautiously optimistic, however, that we will hold steady or show a slightly (less than 10%) improvement in these areas. Frankly, though, it could go either way depending on interference in the market by the federal government. If unemployment numbers go up, for example, the real estate market will suffer.
The economy and politics are just two examples of factors outside our control that impact the real estate market. That’s why it’s so very important for you to maximize the factors that are within our control by choosing an experienced real estate professional to help you buy or sell a home. But that’s a topic or another day…
If you’d like information more specific to your immediate neighborhood, click on Market Snapshot. For an accurate estimate of your home value, an inspection of your property will be necessary to ascertain its interior and exterior condition, size, features, location and other factors, as they relate to other properties currently on the market and recently sold.
__________________________
FocusOnCrofton.com is your one-stop source for information about Crofton, Maryland, and the surrounding area. It’s my way of keeping current residents informed about their community while also attracting relocating home buyers to the Crofton area (including Bowie, Crownsville, Davidsonville, Fort Meade, Gambrills, Millersville and Odenton). Please feel free to contact me any time for more information.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Are Crofton Sales Up or Down From Last Month?
January 15th, 2010 Categories: Market Updates
Crofton MD Real Estate Statistics for December 2009
It was back to “normal” for Crofton MD real estate during December after a record-breaking 161% increase in November (over the previous year). There were just 13 homes sold/settled last month compared to 40 during November.
Why the difference? As I suspected last month, November statistics reflected a rush to settle for first-time homebuyers seeking the $8,000 tax credit incentive scheduled to expire in November. As it turns out, the tax credit has been extended, so we may see another burst of real estate sales before that expires in 2010.
Best news of the month is the 37.23% drop of “days on market” for sold/settled homes – 59 compared to 94 in December 2008. This figure is also better than the two previous months this year, when average for “days on market” was 86 (Nov.) and 83 (Oct.).
I’m pleased to see that the average sold price (as a percentage of list price) was nearly 94% – that’s a big improvement for home sellers over the 90.42% we were seeing a year ago in December. Buyers should take note of this, however, because it could mean they’ll need to make a better offer when they find a home to buy… they may have missed the bottom of the market.
The average sold price was the lowest we’ve experienced in Crofton in over five years (down almost 7% from last year), while the median sold price saw a slight bump (4.81%) during the same period. Not surprising, then, that the average list price for sold/settled properties was the lowest last month it has been for any December in more than five years.
My Forecast for the next few months in Crofton real estate?
As always, I’m looking at the number of new listings and new contracts last month as indicators of the future for Crofton real estate. Unfortunately, there were only 5 new non-contingent contracts, but 18 new listings. I need to see a better balance of these two figures before I’m willing to step out on a limb and predict a genuine improvement in the Crofton MD real estate market.
Copyright 2010. Margaret Woda. All rights reserved
__________________________
FocusOnCrofton.com is your one-stop source for information about Crofton, Maryland, and the surrounding area. It’s my way of keeping current residents informed about their community while also attracting relocating home buyers to the Crofton area (including Bowie, Crownsville, Davidsonville, Fort Meade, Gambrills, Millersville and Odenton). Please feel free to contact me any time for more information.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
