Townhomes lead the way; Despite strong sales, prices are flat and decline in many areas

OVERVIEW

The supply of active listings in the Baltimore Metro Area housing market continues to shrink, and is at the lowest January-level in eight years.  However, the pattern appears to be changing slowly with new listings, which had the highest year-over-year gain since Spring 2011.  New listings are also up across all property segments, which has not occurred in over 2 years.  Even with the shifting pattern in new listings, the overall inventory still remains low.  There are a wide range of factors that could be keeping sellers from listing their properties.  Many could not have enough equity at current prices to “trade up” into a larger unit.  Others may have trouble finding a unit to begin with because the inventory is so low.  Economic uncertainty also remains a key issue on the table for many. 

Children love snow days because they mean hours of sledding instead of school. But heavy snowfall can also cause home sales to slow. If we get the heavy snow that some have predicted for February, we could see a temporary drop in sales.

Today, heavy snow is falling in New England. Folks up there might be under two feet of snow by tomorrow.

“There will be a dropoff in buyer activity,” Nancy Klopfer said on Thursday night. She’s a broker with Coldwell Banker in Albany, NY. “I’ve already had showings for the weekend that have cancelled. Other agents don’t want to be out selling houses in this weather.”