The real estate market is all about playing the waiting game.
For more than four months, the average amount of time that a home has spent on the market has increased from a year before, the April Metropolitan Regional Information Statistics indicated. And with property in the Baltimore area taking more than 90 days to sell, it?s still a buyers market.
But Cathy Werner, the president-elect of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, sees sellers as taking advantage of the increased time in their own way.
“If I were to talk to a seller today, I would tell them to prepared for three months on the market and then about another three for contract negotiations and settlement,” Werner said.
In April, a home in the Baltimore region was selling for an average of $310,323, an increase of nearly $6,000more then the year before. For the region, 2,831 total homes were sold, a decrease of more than 355 from a year earlier.
So as the average time on the market increases, and average prices continue to creep up, many see the market shifting back to a more normal approach, from the pinnacle that it reached the past few years.
“Because there is more inventory buyers get to be a little more choosey and we came off such a crazy market where property would spend next to no days on the market, this is average and normal and what we are more used to,” Werner said.
Real estate average sales price by county
April 2007 April 2006 Change
» Anne Arundel $398,754 $418,727 -$19,973
» Baltimore City $176,437 $179,646 -$3,209
» Baltimore $306,325 $288,274 +$18,051
» Carroll $350,170 $342,526 +$7,644
» Harford $292,026 $300,267 -$8,241
» Howard $442,814 $438,661 +$4,153
» Average $310,323 $304,589 +$5,734
Source: April 2007 data from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.
