Havre de Grace Real Estate September 2011

Things improved in Havre de Grace real estate during September- whether compared to August 2011 or September of 2010. There were 20 homes that changed hands in Havre de Grace during the month, as compared to 17 from last year at the same time, and the putrid 13 that sold during August of this year. The time to sell actually went up slightly from 99 days last year to 103 this year- a meaningless difference. Also, and notably, the median sold price actually slid pretty considerably from $319,000 to $275,000.

Probably factoring in the sales price reduction is the number of distressed sales that took place. There were 4 foreclosures and 3 short sales during the month in the 21078 zip for a total of 7 out of the overall 20 that transferred. That represents 35% of the overall sales in the market-a trend that we can expect to continue into next year. Although the federal Government is kicking around the idea of finding a way to rent out the foreclosures that are expected to hit the market, I have my doubts about this plan (feel free to contact me any time for my opinion about this at scott@scottmillerrealestate.com or by calling my cell at (443) 866-6728.

Another item of note is the type of financing used to purchase the homes that did sell. Surprisingly, 5 were purchased using cash, 9 were conventional loans, 4 were FHA, and 2 buyers utilized the VA program. The fact that so many homes used cash and conventional financing indicates that more experienced buyers were in the market, and that there is room left for more first time homebuyers in the Havre de Grace Area.

Havre de Grace Real Estate August 2011

It doesn’t seem like there has been much action in the 21078 this year. While sales have steadily declined as BRAC starts to wind to a halt, it has been extremely clear in the Havre de Grace Area.

The number of units that changed hands during the month was down an astonishing 50% from last year, dropping from 26 to 13 at a time where we all expected to be I a much better market. The average sales price did increase slightly from $294,734 to $303,805, and with that, it actually took an average of 13 less days to sell a home in the riverfront city.

This may be due to a couple of different factors. Government uncertainty led the way, since there have been numerous concerns surrounding a variety of programs. Also, inventory decreased by almost 20%, so there were just less homes to choose from. This might be attributed to the lack of foreclosed properties on the market as compared to a year ago. Finally, the new regulations for underwriting Government-backed loans have made buying prohibitive for some. While in the past couple of years we have seen first-time homebuyers leading the market as far as number of buyers, this was not the case in Havre de Grace during August. Of the measly 13 homes that sold, 7 used a conventional loan, which means that most people who bought had to have higher credit scores than normal, along with more cash to put down.

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