Home Sales Prices Remain Strong on East Coast

Bright MLS shined a spotlight on the Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland metro areas this week, releasing November housing market updates for both regions. The data was provided by MarketStats by ShowingTime based on listing activity from Bright MLS.

Median sales prices in Washington, D.C., came in at $425,000 for the month of November 2017, up  up 4.4 percent since November 2016 and 2.9 percent over October 2017. That amounts to a change of $18,000 year-over-year and $11,875 since October, respectively. November marked the highest November price of the decade, and the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases. Sales volume for the D.C. metro was also up, increasing 11.5 percent year-over-year—an increase of more than $2.15 billion.

Inventory shortages have been a problem nationwide, a trend that will hopefully see some relief in 2018. According to Bright MLS, the problem remains rampant in the D.C. area, with D.C. seeing declines in inventory levels year-over-year for the 19th consecutive month. At 4,308 listings, new listings were up 1.0 percent year-over-year compared to last year but down 25.3 percent below October 2017. Active listings also dropped to 8,629, down 5.7 percent compared to last year and 14.6 percent compared to October 2017.

Baltimore median sales prices were up in November 2017 as well, hitting $254,000. That put November’s numbers up 5.8 percent over November 2016 (a difference of $14,000) but down 2.3 percent ($6,000) compared to October 2017. Baltimore sales volume was up 8.4 percent over the same month in 2016, a difference of 8.4 percent.

Inventory issues were even more pronounced in Baltimore than in D.C. The 3,592 new listings were up 2.2 percent over November 2016, but down a seasonal 23.2 percent from last month. According to Bright MLS, “Active listings declined by 11.0 percent to 9,712, the 27th consecutive month of declining year-over-year inventory levels and the lowest November level in a decade.”

In D.C., the median days-on-market for November 2017 was 21 days, two days lower than in November 2016. In Baltimore, the median days-on-market was 32 days, down eight days compared to November 2016 and holding steady since October 2017.