Recent Trends in the Real Estate Market

In September 2008, the slow down continued in the D.C. metro area real estate market. The average sales price decreased significantly last month in all counties. The average days to sell properties increased slightly, while the absorption rate and number of properties sold decreased slightly last month.

The average absorption rate remained the same in September, changing slightly from 13.55% in August to 12.32% in September. The decrease in buyer demand in September is nothing new. A similar decrease has occurred 3 of past 4 years. We are now entering the Fall/Winter 2008 real estate market. It is an excellent time to buy a home! The inventory is high and demand is low. I expect these market conditions to remain until March 2009.

The average time to sell a home increased slightly to 104 days (7.2% jump) in September. It still takes over 3 months to sell a property in the current market. The average number of days to sell a property increased slightly in all counties track last month.

The average home sold for $45,717 less last month. The average sales prices in the region decreased significantly (10.12%) last month.

Montgomery County ($458,036; 10.36% drop)

Fairfax County ($382,948; 16.15% drop)

Arlington County ($511,748; 11.99% drop)

Washington D.C. ($520,296; 6.6% drop)

Baltimore County ($277,494; 9.54% drop)

Price Georges County ($285,632; 3.96% drop)

I expect to see property values decrease steadily for the remaining months of the year.

The number of sales decreased 4.94% in September. I expect to see a steady decrease in the number of sales for the remaining months of the year. All counties experienced decreases in the number of sales last month, except Prince Georges.