Realtors felt an unusual warmth of buyer interest during the holidays and around New Year?s Day, traditionally slow times for the real estate market, but that interest didn?t translate into sales.
Home sales continued their months-long plunge during January, with every Baltimore-area jurisdiction reporting plunges of about 40 percent or more in units and dollar value sold, according to data released Monday.
The figures exceeded the 30 percent year-over-year drops reported every month since September, and represent the biggest year-over-year sales declines for any month since the housing market began slumping last year.
The data was compiled by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., a multiple-listing service owned by 25 Realtor associations across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia.
“There?s more activity, but they?re not the motivated buyers,” said Julie Duley, president of the Harford County Board of Realtors. “They?re convinced that if they wait a little bit longer, prices will go down more.”
Harford saw the biggest drop in sales with 108 units sold in January, down more than 50 percent from 219 in January 2007. In every other county, the number of units sold fell 31 to 42 percent.
Despite low interest rates, buyers still have little appetite to enter a deflated housing market, said Dr. Anirban Basu, president and chief executive officer of the Sage Policy Group. Basu said the result is Realtors who are showing property but aren?t seeing settlements.
“One could characterize these prospective buyers as nonshoppers or even hobbyists,” he said. “They feel no sense of urgency and are happy to linger in the marketplace for months to come. If they find property that suits them to a T, they may make an offer, but it will likely be a lowball offer.”
