HUGHESVILLE, Md. –– As the Southern Maryland housing market continues to experience turbulence, prices continue to see slight gains while homes stay on the market for longer than in the past few years.
According to the most recent data collected by the Southern Maryland Association of Realtors®, the market has returned to many conditions previously observed before 2020. Interest rates have risen slightly from historic lows, and houses are staying on the market longer.
This market shift has given some negotiating power back to buyers, although the inventory shortage in the region keeps sellers in the driver’s seat.
“The housing market right now is very stable, despite inventory levels being tight,” 2022-23 SMAR President Michael Funk said. “We are not seeing any major price reductions, and sellers are providing more closing costs on higher-end properties. Anything under $300,000 is still moving rather quickly.”
New listings decreased by 27.16% from this same time last year. However, there are still slightly more houses on the market, as active listings are up roughly 42.05% from 2021.
Fewer buyers have been jumping into homeownership in Southern Maryland as the total number of units sold over the past month is down 34.72% from last year.
“Interest rates have come down slightly the past couple of weeks,” Funk said. “I would say the current interest rates have caused fewer buyers to enter the housing market, but there is still not enough inventory to satisfy the demands of buyers actively looking in the market.”
Additionally, houses have been staying on the market longer than last year, as Southern Maryland saw the average days on the market rise from 17 days in 2021 to now 24 days.
The clearest evidence of buyers getting leverage in transactions these days can be found in the average sold price to original list price ratio. This statistic shows that last year at this time, buyers were paying, on average, 100% of what sellers were asking for a house. That statistic shows buyers are paying an average of 98.7% of what sellers initially ask for.
However, the market has still shown signs of more healthy margins of price gains. The median sold price across Southern Maryland is roughly $19,000 from last year, which is a 5.24% increase. The average sold price also saw an increase of just over 4%.
Notably, St. Mary’s County saw no change to its median sold price from last year to now.
Housing market statistics from each county in the Southern Maryland region can be found below:
Calvert County
- Units Sold: 102 (-36.25%)
- Total Sales Volume: $ 45,789,114 (-33.34%)
- Average Days On The Market: 25 (+4 Days from October 2021)
- Median Sold Price: $403,000 (+8.92%)
Charles County
- Units Sold: 213 (-38.44%)
- Total Sales Volume: $ 93,175,991 (-34.15%)
- Average Days On The Market: 22 (+7 Day from October 2021)
- Median Sold Price: $410,000 (+2.50%)
St. Mary’s County
- Units Sold: 123 (-25.45%)
- Total Sales Volume: $ 46,251,461 (-24.38%)
- Average Days On The Market: 28 (+9 Days from October 2021)
- Median Sold Price: $360,000 (No Change)
Visit https://www.southernmarylandrealtors.org/pages/housing-statistics/ every month for additional details about the housing market in Southern Maryland.
Statistics for this article were compiled with cooperation from Bright MLS, a leading housing market data source and a real estate listing service for Realtors® throughout the region.