September 2020 vs 2019
As we head into the late fall, let’s take a look at the housing market and see where we are. This year has several “unusual forces” acting upon it – covid-19 and everything that comes with it, the looming vaccine(s), the upcoming election, a potential Presidential transition, and the inauguration.
Maryland Housing Market
(Source: Maryland Realtors)
Oof. Buyers in MD are definitely feeling these housing stats in their stress level and their wallets. The average sales price is up 16.2% from last year from $346,631 to $402,747. We are used to this in the DC market, but this is for the entire state of Maryland. This is a massive change. And look at the active supply/inventory in the market — there were 25,146 houses on the market in 2019 and now there are only 10,117 (months of inventory is down from 3.5 to 1.4). Lots of demand, not a lot of supply, leads up the upward trend on prices we are seeing.
DC Metro Area Housing Market
(Source: BrightMLS)
The DC Metro Area as a whole is in a similar situation, and, in fact, there are many record-setting statistics. The median sales price ($512,000) hit a September high, up by a record $81.0K (+18.8%) from last year. Montgomery County single-family homes hit a ten-year high ($666,000). Potomac detached homes closed for $1.1M (+21.6%).
The metro region marked a ten-year high for condo/co-op sales (1,575, up 43.7%). Homes continued to sell at a record-setting pace, remaining at an all-time low seven days for a second month. The number of sold listings coming off the market in ten days or less (3,285) more than doubled from last year (+105.3%). Montgomery County saw a 153.8% increase.
Thoughts on where we are
I am not seeing any signs of slowing yet. I still have a list of buyers and sellers I am talking to right now. And all the trends we are seeing are showing no signs of slowing down. Given that a lot of people are working from home, and given the number of externalities on the market right now, I am expecting we will push right through the winter into February. Once we see more on the election results and the vaccine timeline, I’ll come back and revisit this.
