Local home prices fell for a sixth straight month, according to recent data, one sign that sellers have fully embraced the idea of pricing lower to sell.
But some real estate experts said the price drops have as much to do with what?s being sold as how much those homes are being sold for.
“At the upper end of the market, if fewer places are being sold, that pushes the prices down,” said Paul Cooper, vice president of real estate with Alex Cooper Auctioneers. “The higher end of the market not selling has more to do with the price decline than sellers cutting prices.”
In the first four months of this year, 269 housing units were sold for $700,000 or more in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, according to data gathered by the Realtor-owned Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.
That?s down from 431 units sold at that price or higher during the same time last year, a decrease in sales of 37.58 percent. Sales of all units in the Baltimore metro area in the first four months are down 34.73 percent from the year before.
According to MRIS data for April the median sale price for the metro area, the price at which half of all homes sold for less and half for more, fell 4.73 percent, the sixth straight month of decline. Since Jan. 1, median sale prices in the area have fallen 4.03 percent from the year before.
April was also the first month since the residential real estate slide began last fall that the city and its five surrounding counties have all reported declines in median sale price. Carroll County reported the largest drop, down 11.84 percent to $288,675, while Baltimore City prices fell the least, down 2.35 percent to $155,000.
The high end of the local market faces pressure on several fronts. Jumbo loans, mortgages above $417,000, have become harder to get despite ongoing efforts to make them more accessible said Jody Landers, executive vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.
Also, high-end buyers usually need to move their existing house, slowing sales of big-dollar homes.
“You?re interested in buying or you need to move up but you?ve got a house to sell, so it?s a whole different ballgame than when you?re a first time buyer,” he said. “In a market like this, that exerts a tremendous drag on the ability of a property to move in a timely manner.”
