They say, as the housing market goes, so goes the economy. If that’s the case, things are not looking up in Maryland.

More specifically, sales of existing homes in Maryland fell for the second consecutive month in October 2011 from a year ago, according to new figures from the Maryland Association of Realtors and Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.

• Statewide, median housing prices declined by 9.3 percent to $221,765 last month from October 2010.
• With respect to sales there was a 2.8 percent decline in October 2011 and 3.9 percent drop in September 2011 followed year-over-year gains in July 2011 and August 2011, the first two months that were not skewed by the federal homebuyer tax credits that expired in mid-2010.
• Prince George’s County bucked the trend with an October 2011 sales gain of 8 percent, although the median price there fell by a whopping 21 percent to $150,000.
• In Montgomery, where sales were down by 9.4 percent, the median price declined 6.5 percent to $327,250.
• Frederick County saw a 4 percent sales gain and 1 percent price hike to $252,500,
• Howard County had a 5.5 percent sales drop and 6.7 percent price decline to $330,750.
• Washington County saw a sales hike of 7.4 percent and a price climb of 16 percent to $168,000 in October 2011.

The price drops in Montgomery and Prince George’s can be attributed, in part, to lower limits on jumbo mortgages, which took effect Oct. 1, 2011 and might have kept high-end sellers out of the market and depressed the number of buyers able to purchase higher-priced homes, according to a report from RealEstate Business Intelligence, a wholly owned subsidiary of Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE: Sales are likely to improve soon because pending sales — which include those under contract and contingents — were up by 21 percent in October 2011.

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE: A federal proposal to require many buyers to have a 20 percent down payment could be devastating to the market.

So, once again, stay tuned to see where the housing market goes. 

Tags: maryland housing

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