Maryland home sales in '08
Final home sale figures for the year are out, and it's official: 2008 was the first time average prices fell since MRIS began tracking the Baltimore metro housing market a decade earlier. (The drop: 3.5 percent.) It was also the year with the lowest recorded number of home sales -- 22,700, compared with 28,800 in 1998.
Carroll County had the largest drop in average price locally, down nearly 11 percent to $325,000. The rest: Anne Arundel, down 5.5 percent; Baltimore County, down 5.3 percent; Howard, down 3.8 percent; Harford, down 3.2 percent; and Baltimore City, down three-tenths of a percent.
Sales dropped the most in the city (33 percent) and the least in Howard (23 percent), within the metro area. But there were bigger and smaller decreases elsewhere in the state, as stats from the Maryland Association of Realtors show.
Sales dropped 44 percent in Somerset County -- just 83 homes changed hands there last year -- and 8 percent in Wicomico County. They're neighbors on the Eastern Shore; Salisbury, the largest Eastern Shore city, is in Wicomico.
Where were the biggest decreases in price? Well, it depends on whether you rely on average or median. The metro area showed similar drops with both measurements, but a few counties -- smaller ones -- had wildly different stats. Consider Kent, up 9 percent on average price and down 9 percent on median price. Or Dorchester, up 28 percent on average and down 2 percent on median.
Lest you think median is always to the negative, there's Wicomico, where average price dropped 7 percent but median price rose about half a percent.
Sign up for the At Home newsletter 
Comments
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/MutualFunds/why-your-homes-value-will-keep-falling.aspx
and this where investors are viewing going forward housing investment
http://housingrdc.cme.com/index.html
FYI
Posted by: Anonymous | February 18, 2009 12:16 PM
Statistics vs. Analysis
There is an old saying "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
I have been very vocal in my criticisms of the Baltimore Sun's real estate reporting. My reasons are many and varied. Their use of statistics while providing no analysis comes off negative. They use National and regional stats. and apply them locally at convenience. They tend to exploit city woes and favor the 'burbs. What they do not do is provide any meaningful analysis. i.e. How do Maryland's taxes effect business growth and jobs? How does this effect real estate? Real estate and its related industries is large and varied, why they tend to concentrate on the doom? Thoughtful advice, highlighting new products, green technologies, community planning, successes, etc. are rare. Calls to action are never mentioned.
Housing is fundamentally changing America right now. Yet, the Sun continues to inject negativity into the zeitgeist. While I applaud the paper's ability to come up with new ways to say the same thing, it takes creativity; I have wonder what is the cost? This City, Metro and Sun paper are hurting right now. Yet, People looking to inform themselves are going to refer to the Sun, since it is the only major paper in town. Statistics are easy to hide behind and the damage they do is difficult to correlate.
What is lacking is a community resource and advocate. The Sun has failed miserably in this role.. This goes for the paper in general. Sometimes I wonder if the reporters and editors think this is a second class town and upset that they are working at what is now a second rate paper -or- if they are somehow tied-in to more forceful influences.
I really wish the Baltimore Sun would shine again.
Articles I would like to see:
1. In depth reporting on Baltimore City Taxes
2. City Taxes, Condos and retirees
3. Maryland's taxes and its effect on business and how it relates to real estate
4. Understanding what the "Blue Ribbon Committee" said on taxes with a more in-depth interview with the Loyal Professor
5. A look at New-Urbanism and transit oriented communities
6. Highlight affordable and tax incentives "green" technologies
7. Super in-depth article on filling vacant housing in the city. Can we renovate them and give them away for free and be better off, if the taxes are paid?
8. How does suburban sprawl effect the environment, the Bay, landscape and your wallet
9. What is the ultimate cost of the exurbs and transit dollars, community, disparity, energy dependency?
10. Why can't we have a tax phase-in or abatement for first-time homebuyers?
11. A look at using existing infrastructure vs. creating new.
12. Why is Columbia, MD not prospering like Reston, VA?
13. How can a 1st time buyer utilize the 203k loan and Historic Tax credits
14. The City's recent increase in spending, missing school money and its effect on taxes and decline in services
15. Transience, investors, renters, investors who have stake in the city that don't vote or can't and its effect on real estate, apathy
16. Money given by Federal and State Government and how it effects middle class residents in the city
17. Community activism works, areas in the city with middle class involvement improve quality of life for all.
18. Middle Classes and the City... What is the future?
19. How the power of Ministers influences voting in the city and trickles down to real estate and taxes in the city
20. How does tearing down of historic structures affect a community?
21. HGTV stuff: Home staging, using Realtors, etc...
22. Community Gardens and the effect on community and property values
23. The price of littering and dumping
24. In-depth look at how the suburbs changed the Nation
... I could go on and on. But ultimately this is your job.
I realize many of you think I'm crazy... But isn't there more to talk about?
Posted by: Dunn | February 18, 2009 1:09 PM
To the disgruntled, anonymous writer below:
Thank you! Your comment was refreshing, and honestly, what everyone needs to hear. I too believe that the Sun has settled to be a second-rate paper. The writing is elementary. I understand not all Sun readers have a college education, but I often find spelling and grammar mistakes...if not basic journalism woes.
Despite the disparities, every day I see how Baltimore is trying to prosper, shouldn't it's paper do the same? Or at least talk about it?
Posted by: anonymous | February 18, 2009 5:42 PM
I'm just too idealistict for this blog.
I am pretty sure there are people who feel the same. I hope!
Posted by: Dunn | February 18, 2009 5:43 PM