Southern Maryland Housing Market’s Sees Decline In Activity And Inventory

HUGHESVILLE, Md. — Over the past month, the housing market in Southern Maryland has seen some promising trends despite a decline in activity. 

According to the most recent data from the Southern Maryland Association of REALTORS®, the region continues to face inventory problems, and overall market activity remains down. 

Year-over-year, active listings and new listings are down roughly 5.24% and 3.64%, respectively. Simultaneously, new pending sales are down roughly 8.5% from this time last year, meaning fewer homes are going under contract or selling. 

“We have seen interest rates grow over the past month, which has continued to burden many potential homebuyers in the market,” SMAR 2023-2024 President Tracy Vasquez said. “This isn’t where we expected to be in terms of inventory or market activity as we enter the Spring and Summer market, however, demand remains strong and will still begin to pick up in the coming months.” 

Unsurprisingly, the total number of units sold was down from last year by roughly 17.37%, and the total dollar volume sold was down by roughly 16.53%. 

However, as market activity slowed, prices continued to see positive gains. The median sold price was up across the Southern Maryland region by roughly 2.41%, and the average sold price was up 1.68%. Most of those positive gains were in Charles County. 

Additionally, the average number of days a home was on the market dropped by four days from this time last year. 

However, even as interest rates saw slight increases, demand stayed strong, and home sellers reaped the benefit. The average sold price to original list price ratio grew from 98.7% to roughly 99.8%, meaning many sellers sold their homes for close to the price they had them listed. 

“Although market activity was relatively slow last month, buyers are not sitting on the sidelines when appropriately priced homes come on the market,” Vasquez noted. “We are optimistic that interest rates will come down later this year, and hopefully that can help ease some of the affordability problems that buyers face in our market. However, we still really need more inventory before that can truly happen.” 

Visit https://www.southernmarylandrealtors.org/pages/housing-statistics/ every month for additional details about the housing market in Southern Maryland. A video breakdown of the local statistics for the month can be found on the SMAR YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=865vFtbkiEU 

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.