Clear Capital: Baltimore-area home prices dropped 6% in 2011
Real estate data firm Clear Capital puts the Baltimore region's price drop last year at 6.2 percent, a figure calculated from repeat sales of homes to try to capture the true gain or loss over time.
The average drop in home prices last year, by contrast, was about 4 percent in the region -- considering everything that sold in 2011 vs. everything that sold in 2010.
It's not unusual for price stats to differ, especially if they're measuring the market differently. That's one of the reasons it can be helpful to look at a variety. Triangulation, if you will.
Clear Capital says Baltimore's price loss in 2011 was 12th largest among big markets, with Atlanta No. 1 for its 18 percent decline.
At the other extreme of its 50-region ranking were metro areas that have seen big declines already and posted gains last year, including Dayton, Ohio (up more than 11 percent), Orlando (up almost 7 percent) and Miami (up 5.6 percent).
Clear Capital also weighed in with a forecast, because everyone has 'em.
The company predicts that home prices will fall 4.9 percent in the Baltimore region in 2012, not as substantial as its measurement for last year but significant among big markets. It expects that only seven of the other 49 metro areas will see larger price drops.
The place Clear Capital predicts will have the third largest gain this year? The Washington metro area. The company forecasts a 9.3 percent gain in prices for our neighbor to the south, following a 3.5 percent gain in 2011.
Categories: Housing forecasts, Housing stats
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