March 19, 2015

Montgomery County Housing Trends 2014

For April of 2014, the Montgomery County real estate market has continued to remain strong, with a median sold price down just a fraction of a percent from April 2013 to April 2013 to $400,000 flat. The number of new listings is virtually unchanged from last year, up 2.3% to 1,840, while the number of closed sales has decreased significantly from 985 in April 2013 to 871 in April 2013.

The decrease in number of closed sales can be attributed to a decrease in inventory of available homes for sale as the competition for the existing homes continue to remain high.

This fact is reinforced by the average days on market and average sold to list price ratios, which both remain well above their 5 year average. Average days on market is down significantly from 50 in April 2013 to 44 in April 2014, and well below its 5 year April average of 62. Average sold to list price ratio remained high- near it’s April 2013 figure at 97.8%, and above the 5 year average of 95.9%.

Forward looking inventory remains tight with the number of active listings at 2,414, which is significantly below the 5 year April average of 2,821. This would indicate that comptetion for existing homes will likley remain high- keeping upward pressure on sales prices and downward pressure on average days on market. This is continued good news for sellers, who have begun to respond to increasing buyer demand by listing their homes for sale, but will result in a continued diffcult environment for home buyers.

In terms of specific zip codes to point out within Montgomery County, the 20854 zip code in Potomac, MD continued as one of the highest priced zip codes in the DC area with median sales price up 1.2% over last year to $842,500, and average sold price down slightly at 3.4% to $978,510, which is based on 49 closed sales in the month of April. The highest volume of closed sales were in 20906- Silver Spring, 20878- Gaithersburg, N Potomac, and 20874- Germantown at 76, 71, and 67, closed sales respectively.