To the disappointment of all hoping for signs of a turnaround, April continued the trend of big sales declines in the Baltimore metro area. The number of homes sold last month was down 31 percent from a year earlier. Average prices were essentially flat. (The median price -- the point at which half the homes are less expensive and half more expensive -- fell 4.7 percent.)

Click HERE to see the data, released today by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.

The sales drop ranged from 27 percent in Baltimore County to 42 percent in Carroll, which has really been taking a pummeling. Prices fell the most in Carroll, down 7.6 percent on average. Every other jurisdiction in the area saw tiny-to-modest price drops except Baltimore, where average prices rose 3.7 percent. (But the city's median price fell, which just goes to show that it depends on what you're measuring.)

The number of unsold homes is again on the rise. That's probably to be expected, because a number of agents mentioned in the winter months that they had clients planning to put their properties on the market in the spring.

Thoughts about the market? As always, chime in.