January home sales take plunge
(Feb. 15, 2008)For the Ocean City-area real estate industry, January was one of those good news-bad news months.
The bad news for real estate sales overall in Maryland was a 41.3 percent plunge in activity as compared to January 2007, according to the Maryland Association of Realtors. The good news to be found in the monthly report was strictly local, as sales in the Ocean City market held up moderately well and declined a much more modest 10 percent, down to 54 units sold from 60. The good news for buyers, in addition to lower mortgage rates because of recent rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, is that home prices also fell during the month.
In Worcester County, according to MAR statistics, that decline in prices was substantial, with the average price of a unit sold clocking in at $359,511. That is 15.4 percent lower than the $424,815 average price this time last year and represents a shift from a stagnant market besieged by high inventory and high prices to a buyer’s market.
“Property availability is way up. Prices are down. And interest rates are at a 40-year low,” said Ocean City Realtor Jerry Richards.
Richards also argued that stories reporting the collapse of the resort market were off the mark. Acknowledging that 2007 was not the best of years, he said MAR and Coastal Association Housing statistics showed that there were 1,245 units sold in that period. The average price of these houses and condominiums was $407,154.
This compares with 1,340 homes and condominiums sold in 2006 at an average price of $422,561.
In the meantime, sale prices in January are slightly more than what they were in 2004, while inventory remains high. The combination of high inventory and much lower prices should mean that the market has made its corrections, Richard said.