Real estate prices are undergoing a balancing act ? and last month the dropping price won.
In the Baltimore region, the average cost of a home fell by more than $3,500 in May, when compared with the same time a year ago, the latest Metropolitan Regional Information Statistics indicated. Settling ataround $312,600, the drop was reflected in three other counties that also saw their average prices take a step back.
“Properties have to be priced properly,” Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors President Thomas Hough said. “You can’t just put your property up for 20 percent more than the person next door. The message is slowly getting out to the people.”
For Anne Arundel County sellers, prices dropped nearly $30,000 compared with the same time last year, but still remain the second highest average in the region at nearly $414,000. The biggest winner of the counties was Harford, which saw its average price increase by nearly $15,000 to $295,484.
Despite the price fluctuation, average days on the market remained consistent. Every county in the Baltimore region saw an increase in the amount of time it took to sell a house, with Carroll County taking the longest at 111 days. In the region, homes took an average of 87 days to sell in May, a small decrease from the 92 days it took to sell them in April. Harford County saw the largest increase, from about 51 days in May 2006 to 100 days this year.
And with Harford County seeing the largest time increase and average price jump, it just may be the patient seller who lands the biggest buyer.
“What you really have is a difference of expectation,” Hough said. “People were expecting to be able to move their properties at a higher rate in speed and dollars and they are finding that properties are still moving. We are at the same level we were in 2003.”
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