Monthly Market Update - May 2009
The real estate market outlook based on results for the month of May, 2009 comes with some renewed optimism, as we begin to see a trend of “units sold” over last year, reach a rate of 12.26% higher. There were 119 homes sold in Charles County during the month of May compared to only 106 homes sold this time last year. There is currently an overall inventory supply of 10.4 months based on the current level of active homes for sale. Be careful not to rely on this inventory statistic as it has a “false bottom” of sorts. There is an increasing amount of Bank-owned property that is not currently on the market, and as a result, not reflected in the MRIS Trends Report.
The pick-up in home sales, as discussed in the previous paragraph, is likely due to a continued decrease in home prices. The year over year average sold price is down 11.3% in May, and the average list to sell ratio has dropped to 90.94%, meaning that a home listed for $400,000 sold for $361,600 based on the statistics in the May Trend Report distributed by the Metropolitan Regional Information System.
As for properties in Foreclosure, Realtytrac.com reported 118 new properties in default for the month of May in Charles County, which shows a downward trend based on the 246 we saw during the month of April. As of June 15, 2009 Realtytrac.com reported 58 new defaults in Charles County. The bad news in all of this is that because of the low number of available buyers, the total number of properties in Charles County that are in some state of Foreclosure (including Bank-owned) has risen to 849 properties, compared to just 777 during the month of April. Again, not all these numbers are reflected in the MRIS Trends Report because the majority of these homes are not currently being actively sold at this time.
Back in March, I reported to you that the $5.1 Million dollars allocated to Charles and St Mary’s Counties would soon be disbursed to assist the ailing housing market on a local level. The commissioners have still not released these funds. I urge all home owners to contact their County Commissioner and urge them to approve a plan that will aid us in the recovery of our housing market.
You may have also heard that HUD was in the process of approving the $8,000 tax credit to be used as down payment assistance. In a recent letter, The Secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, has decided against this proposal, and not allowing mortgage lenders to use the tax credit as down payment assistance. He cites the need for buyers to meet minimum standards in the loan process, and the need for “real equity” in the transaction. A complete copy of this letter is available on my blog at www.waldorfhomesolutions.com.
My next campaign is against the Charles County Commissioners Property Tax increase to begin July 1, 2009 for the fiscal year 2010. The Commissioners have increased the rates from $0.968 per $100 assessed value to $1.026 per $100 assessed value. This rate increase could not come at a worse time for Charles County homeowners and buyers. A petition has been generated, and is being circulated by Southern Maryland real estate agents, in an attempt to have enough signatures for the general public to approve or reject the new tax rate at the next general election. If you are interested in circulating this petition around your neighborhood, please contact me in my office at 301-870-1717 x106 or request a petition via e-mail at don@DeHanas.com.
