Maryland’s real estate professionals reveal true market trends

By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

While the media pummels us with chants of “It’s a buyer’s market,” real estate professionals say activity is still strong, especially in Maryland, where home prices rose 5% in January compared with a 3% decline nationally, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

“Because of Maryland’s strong economy we are seeing that the market is still strong in terms of active listings,” says David McIlvaine of Keller Williams Realty in Ellicott City.

“We’re getting multiple offers, and I think we’re seeing a better than normal activity level,” he says.

Historically high
Home values doubled in the market surges of 2001 and 2005, raising them to a historic high. Part of the media’s hype comes from fluctuations occurring around this trend.

“The present level of home sales is relatively high in historic terms, and we can expect minor movements around this level,” says NAR’s chief economist David Lereah.

McIlvaine points out that the people who benefit most from the market now, despite minor ups and downs, are those who bought their house long before the boom. “Older people who want to sell their houses right now have already experienced the increase in appreciation from 2001 and 2005,” he says.

Successful sales
Steffany Byers, retirement counselor at Charlestown, says the experience of people on their waiting list who have accepted apartments and sold their homes has reflected McIlvaine’s and Lereah’s claims.

“Everyone’s been saying that within the past year the market has not been good, but everyone moving here has been able to do it in an average of 53 days,” she says.

The same is true at Oak Crest where Retirement Counselor JoAnn Huebler says she sees three categories of sellers wanting to move there: those who don’t need to sell their homes to move to Oak Crest, those who already have someone interested in buying their home, and those with other homes on the market in their neighborhood.