Thanks for mentioning the Realtor.com data. Baltimore overall also saw its median list price remain steady compared to September, in addition to a month-over-month inventory decrease of close to 3%.

This is definitely good news for the 21224 zip code and Baltimore City in general.

The housing inventory in 21224 is slowly decreasing as buyers are continuing to take advantage of the low prices and rock bottom interest rates.

Some of the sellers are taking their properties off the market due their inability to sell them.

According to data from MRIS, there were
46 sales in 21224 in October 2011 while 53 homes were withdrawn from the market during the same time.

For a lot of sellers in the area, lowering the price might not be an option if they are upside down or close to it.

Interestingly, this zip code has distressed property rates similar to those in the rest of the City and State Of Maryland.

At the end of October, there were 70 short sales active on the market (about 14% of total inventory) and 20
bank owned homes.

I would have anticipated higher concentrations of both - short sales and REOs in this area, given its size and its demographic and housing diversity.

I do interior demolition and basement excavations for several investors in that zip code.I also live there.and the investors that i know, are having an extremly hard time selling houses in that area.

I cant say how it compares tohouses outside of that zip code. Upper Fells Point houses seem to be selling sloly as well.

Basicly, most of my customers have been cut off from any more loans by thier banks, until they sell the houses that they have. This has frozen much of my work the past two months

I have a personal house and a rental in 21224 and have lived in the ZIP for 4 yrs now. Good microcosm of the city in general. It doesn't have any really bad areas, nor any truly high-end areas. Despite this, it saw drastic swings in prices from the bubble times (04-07) til the present times. Houses that sold for 200k were demolished and shelled out and now, despite being totally rehabbed, are barely selling for that same 200k. Many people obviously can't sell for what they owe... it was obvious when we were making the rounds towards purchasing our new home. Everyone took the biggest loan possible, then borrowed against the house to rehab... so they couldn't sell for reasonable prices.

We ended up buying an old house that was part of an estate of a deceased person. Then shelled it out and updated. This was only possible because we found someone with a paid off house that they just wanted to get off their hands. And we got a price that reflects the crash in property values.

I think 21224 is going to be a good barometer for MD and the city in general. Once there are more sales than properties removed from the market, THEN maybe there will be a "recovery" of the market. In the meantime, it just means there is a lot more affordability for young people and families who aren't in over their heads.

I live in that zip code as well. One thing I can say now is really good time to buy.