What has COVID done to the Maryland real estate market? Part 3

***UPDATED OCTOBER 13, 2020***

Yes, the COVID-19 epidemic is still upon us. Face masks are still mandatory in most places. Clorox-brand disinfectant wipes are tough to come by. Restaurants are still seating outside. AND the number of active homes for sale is still down. 

Previously, Part 1 of this Covid-19 blog series detailed COVID’s early impact on the Maryland real estate market and how agents adjusted operations as essential workers in the new environment. Part 2 of the COVID real estate impact blog series, highlighted new obstacles involved in the transactions for both buyers and sellers. This piece focuses sharply on the ever-important supply side of the Maryland real estate market, and the subsequent pull this is having on the demand side.

The Maryland residential real estate market is still very active. While inventory is tight, it is being met with one of the most robust and active buyer sets I’ve seen. Take it from me, if you speak to a Realtor, chances are they have never worked harder and around the clock. It seems that no matter where you are looking, city or county, everyone is dealing with multiple offer situations. 

Don’t take my word for it, the details are in the data. Below you will find six graphs of the Maryland counties that I work most frequently (alphabetically ordered):
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County, and Howard County.

Each graph depicts the number of active homes on the market for a given month in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The gold bars represent the number of active homes in 2019 and the blue represents 2020’s numbers. 

*example: There were 2,245 active listings in Anne Arundel County August 2019. In August 2020 there were 934 active listings! 

These graphs are a powerful visual of the epidemic’s impact to supply of available real estate throughout Maryland. What these numbers also demonstrate is, while the world is starting to open back up, the supply is still lagging far behind the amount of activity from the same period last year.

 

 

***UPDATE 10/13/2020

The September numbers are in and the trend of a low supply and high demand market is still on-going.  According to the MLS, the number of active listings in the Mid-Atlantic Region of Maryland from September 2019 was 67,882. The number of active listings in September 2020 was 35,915! To keep the focus in Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties, see the updated graph below. You will find that in most of these counties the supply is down more than 50%.  

 Maryland Real Estate Market in Covid-19

People always ask me, “What is it like? Is this a good market?” The resounding answer right now is yes, the market is fantastic for sellers. Sellers are getting great money for their homes. But what about the buyers? I am closing deals this summer when my buyers are locking in 2.25%-2.5% interest rates, 30-year fixed! 

I hope you found this as fasinating as I did. If you are looking to sell or purchase, let me work this complex, yet rewarding real estate market for you! Feel confident with a full time Maryland Realtor that understands this markete, contact Suzie Coronel.