Short answer – We don’t know yet, but right now it looks like summer slow down.
Let’s start with the stats – how did July look?
Average prices in Maryland for July are up 13.6% to $446,802. Since June 2021, the supply/months of inventory increased to 1.1 (in July 2020, it was 2) and median days on market increased by a day to 7 (in July 2020 it was 11). The number of new listings increased 26.4% to 13,205, when compared to July 2020.
The most interesting figure is the number of units sold, which softened a little, dropping 3.2% to 9,685, while pending sales rose 4.3% to 10,385.
What does this mean?
New listings outpaced pending sales, which increased availability. This softening of demand may be transitory or seasonal.
“The Home Demand Index dropped to ‘Moderate’ from ‘High,’ which suggests that buyer interest is starting to subside from the incredibly frantic levels we saw during COVID,” says Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, Bright MLS Economist Advisor. “I’m not ready to outright call it buyer fatigue however: median sales prices are still very strong, and median days on market still stands at 7. Until we see real movement in prices, I believe the small dips are more seasonal, which are more typical of a summer market. Certainly, this market has been anything but typical.”
Is this a lull?
So if you are seeing more houses come on the market, longer days on market, and feel that softening… It is real. How long will this hang around? We don’t know but typically the market would pick back up after Labor Day. Last year we didn’t see this same softening, but last year was anything but typical.
What it feels like on the ground is that people are on summer vacations – both agents and buyers. We will be watching to see what happens through the end of the year. We are also keeping our eye on Covid-19, the variants, the new mask mandates, etc and how these affect people going back to work and their housing goals.
If you are a buyer right now
You may have an opportunity to purchase a house with less competition, keep some of the contingencies that have been lost in this crazy market, or just not have to escalate $50-100k.
If you are a seller right now
Hang in there! Right now it appears it is a temporary lull for vacations. This is still a seller’s market with low inventory. That being said, you also need to be realistic that you might not get the same deals others did a few weeks ago.
