FOR SALE real estate signs sprouting up all over! Over the past 4 or 5 months, I’ve noticed that on the week ends in Ocean City MD (Worcester County) there are a growing number of OPEN HOUSE signs along the highway compared to few if any in the previous few years. Are real estate sales now on the decline? Are properties staying on the market and requiring agents to bring more attention to their “for sale” inventory to generate sales activity? Is the booming real estate market OVER for the moment?
Figures reported by the Maryland Association of REALTORS FOR Dec 2005 reveal a 64 percent drop compared to Dec 2004 settled property sales. Of SIGNIFICANT NOTE is the growing inventory of real estate properties now on the market. In May of 2005 the Association reported 951 homes and condo’s, etc. as listed for sale on the market through the MLS system. This number has grown monthly and in December of 2005 the active inventory had grown to 1975 units for sale. Typically the settled properties reported in December would reflect actual contracts entered into in October and November of 2005 requiring some 30 days or more before actual settlement took place.
It will be interesting to monitor activity in the next month or two to confirm that this downward trend is continuing. Detailed statistics source was the Maryland Association of REALTORS web site should you wish to confirm or study these numbers yourself.
Have a comment? Visitors are welcome to register and advance this topic, offer other views, etc.. Simply CLICK HERE to login or CLICK HERE to register.
