OK, fine, location matters too
But it's not as if location is irrelevant. Overall in the Baltimore region, supply vs. demand is unbalanced in buyers' favor. Very much so in some spots. And yet, that's not true everywhere. In one county, it seems to be balancing out -- maybe even tipping slightly in favor of sellers.
Yeah, I thought that would get your attention. Can you guess which one?
Ready? OK, then:
Howard County. Yeah, the most expensive one in the metro area. This might strike you as surprising, considering that less-expensive price ranges are the ones seeing the most action. But more on that later.
It would -- as of Wednesday -- take 5.3 months for all of Howard County's listed homes to find buyers at the current pace of sales, according to Sawbuck Realty, which tracks that stat on its website. Supply and demand is generally dubbed "balanced" when that figure is around six.
The rest of the metro area is significantly higher, Sawbuck's figures show:
--Anne Arundel County has a 9.8-month supply of homes
--Baltimore has a 15.7-month supply
--Baltimore County has an 8.7-month supply
--Carroll County has a 9.7-month supply
--Harford County has an 8.9-month supply
Baltimore County and Harford County have a fair number of homes in reach of first-time buyers, so it makes sense that their housing markets are closer to equilibrium than pricier Anne Arundel or Carroll.
But what about pricey Howard? Or Baltimore City, which is the least expensive jurisdiction but has the area's most homes on the market compared with sales?
I didn't think "duh -- location, location, location" was a good enough answer, so I dug into the stats a bit. And found some interesting stuff.
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Comments
When Jamie asked us "Can you guess which one?" I had no trouble at all guessing correctly.
In the same way that "Choosy mothers choose Jif"... buyers with the ability to be choosy, those with options, will always gravitate toward strong schools and the SAFE investment that is indicative of; even if it ruins the rest of their household budget to do it.
I suspect that when the dust has settled on all of this (no, I'm not making a prediction of when) we will find that the normalization and recovery of the several markets came in a sequence that is directly attributable to the 'quality of life' in those markets with all the other aspects trailing far behind.
Posted by: MrRational | September 17, 2009 8:58 AM
Your tease for tomorrow's post was harsh, Jamie. I've got to know!
Posted by: Kevin R | September 17, 2009 9:52 AM
I'm such a meanie, aren't I? :-)
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | September 17, 2009 9:56 AM