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Baltimore, MD - Recent New Home Sales Numbers Give Hints Market Decrease is Slowing

Posted on: May 06, 2012 09:13:30 AM

In the Baltimore, MD market, new home sales slid year-over-year in January, but with a percentage fall not as steep as December 2011, there are signals that the market may be leveling out. Sales sank 10.6% from a year earlier to 160, relative to a 35.7% fall in December from the year earlier.

A total of 3,034 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in January, down from 3,053 for the year that ended in December.

Of 1,601 total sales, 160 were of new homes. This marks a rise from 8.9% of total sales a year earlier. Sales of new and existing homes sank year-over-year in January after also falling in December year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In January, the average price of newly sold homes slipped year-over-year to $361,386 per unit, a 5.0% decline. This marks a downturn from the 6.9% rise in December year-over-year.

There was a rise year-over-year in the average mortgage size on new homes in contrast to new home prices. The average mortgage size rose to $327,670 in January, marking a 2.1% rise compared with a year earlier. Average mortgage size increased 6.7% in December 2011 from a year earlier. For new home sales, the average percentage of the price being financed rose 6.3 percentage points from a year earlier. It moved from 81.3% in December 2010 to 81.2% in January 2011.

Other Market Trends

The percentage of new home sales belonging to single-family homes has risen from last year while the portion of new home sales belonging to attached units has dropped. Single-family home sales increased from 38.0% of new sales in January 2011 to 44.4% of sales in January 2012. Conversely, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units dropped to 55.6% of sales from 62.0% of sales.

There was a 1.9% decline year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 1,660 square feet in January 2012. The average size of newly sold homes moved from 1,814 square feet in December 2010 to 1,825 square feet in December 2011.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales continued to decline from a year earlier in January, but did not look to be a burden on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales represented 24.6% of existing home sales, down from 46.8% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures slid to 6.2% in January from 20.3% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales dipped to 18.5% from 26.4% a year earlier.

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