I have been back from my trip for a week and very excited to get back to work. First, I want to review the current market in a month-to-month (September 2011-to September 2012) comparison for Montgomery County. My personal reports that I use for my newsletters shows some interesting results:
1) Active Listings were down significantly from 3,249 in 2011 versus 2,334 in 2012, a 16.4% drop.
2) Volume of Sales, Sold Units was up from 712 Sold in 2011 to 749 in 2012. Such numbers suggest a tightening of supply, and that is indeed the case, as there were 3 Months of Supply in 2012 versus 2 Months of Supply in 2011.
3) Average Sold Prices were up 6.1% over 2011. Finally,
4) Distressed Sales were 25% of the total units in 2011 versus only 16% in 2012. Such sales usually drive prices down.
So, with there being less of those (still not a healthy amount), we see a bit of an upward tick in prices. In my opinion, the numbers on Active Listings and Sold Volume suggest there might be much stronger price gains but, that has not been the case, as it still is more of a Buyer’s Market in Silver Spring and most of Montgomery County. But, given the trends it may be coming into a more balanced market sooner rather than later.