A decade of Baltimore-area home sales
Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems
Above: The craziest decade for the housing market, at a glance.
Preliminary numbers from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems show buyers in the Baltimore metro area -- the city and surrounding counties -- closing deals on about 21,500 homes last year, down 3 percent from the year before.
That's about the same number of homes that sold in 2008.
MRIS releases official year-end figures in February, often higher as a result of last-minute additions by real estate agents, so I'm using preliminary numbers only to allow for fairer comparisons. It'll be interesting, once we have the full results, to see if the effect of the federal home buyer tax credit was a wash. (Preliminary figures show a sales gain of 3 percent in 2009, counterbalanced by the 3 percent drop last year.)
Check out colleague Lorraine Mirabella's story about the newest market trends, including the sales increase in December after five months of losses. (I, alas, am home sick.)
Do you think the increase in December means the number of home sales is stabilizing? (In case you're wondering, December 2009 sales weren't nearly as high as November 2009, originally the deadline for the home buyer tax credit, but they did post a 10 percent gain over the previous December.)
One other nugget of information to chew on: The number of pending deals, which will turn into sales if all goes as planned, rose 10 percent last month vs. a year earlier.
Prices are another matter. The average fell about 7 percent in December.
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Comments
It'll be interesting, once we have the full results, to see if the effect of the federal home buyer tax credit was a wash. (Preliminary figures show a sales gain of 3 percent in 2009, counterbalanced by the 3 percent drop last year.)
Ask any of sheep that took the credit if they think its a wash. Everyone of them is now underwater by far more than the credit whether they realize it or not.
If you are looking for a home, wait. The deals will be better the longer you do. I am suprised anything is selling. Put yourselves in the shoes of those that bought when the market was 10% down from peak. They have now seen their down payment which in many cases was their life savings wiped out thru depreciation. There is no reason to believe they will get it back til well into the 2020's. IF no one buys, the sellers will blink, promise. They have the enormous gravity of high payments, divorce, job loss forcing their hand. The buyers have none of these mitigating factors forcing theirs.
Disclosure: elweedz is a homeowner rooting for a fall in value. I practice what i preach.
Posted by: elweedz | January 11, 2011 9:54 AM
Just wondering do you have sats from other decades to show how the previous decade compares historically?
Posted by: Paul | January 11, 2011 10:50 AM
I look at the increase in sales as a very positive sign. I don't only we think we are stabalizing but we are well on our way to a recovery. The stock market is signaling an all clear with the economy. What President Obama and his economic team has been able to do with the economy has been no short of amazing. We went from a sure Depression to robust growth and an extraordinary stock market in one year!!. With more money in their pockets - stock owners will want to start showing how much more money they have than others and buy homes again. That is what we are seeing. Think prices will only go up from here. Never a better time to buy a home (and vacation homes).
Posted by: Gregory Morthop | January 11, 2011 12:59 PM
Hey Gregory. LOL. I was about half-way thru before I caught it. Thanks.
Posted by: Donald Wilson | January 11, 2011 5:15 PM
Whoops, sorry about the late reply, Paul. Unfortunately, MRIS figures go back only to the late '90s. Sure would be nice to have good figures back to, say, the 1900s. :-D
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | January 12, 2011 10:51 PM