Maryland REALTORS® Online

November 2023 Housing Stats

by Jacky Mueck Membership 0 0 Comment 1250

Maryland Homes Sales Fall 9% as Average and Median Sales Prices Continue to Rise, in the November 2023 Maryland REALTORS® Housing Stats

ANNAPOLIS, MD—December 13, 2023—Maryland home sales fell 9% to 4,940 units, compared to 5,431 units in 2022. Prices continued their climb with the average sales price rising 4.5% to $464,157, and the median sales price rising 6.7% to $400,000.

Despite an 8.1% increase in the number of units pending (houses under contract) to 5,085 units, inventory continued to fall, dropping more than 20% to 9,540 units. Other signs pointing to a drop in inventory include the number of new listings, which fell 14.6% to 5,121 units.

With prices rising and inventory scarce, it points to a new first-time homebuyer, one who is older, with a higher income. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the incomes of successful first-time home buyers rose nearly $25,000 from the previous year. Conventional wisdom holds that given the imbalance between supply and demand, market forces would operate to increase supply, but this isn’t happening because of many external factors, like interest rates and local government policies that restrict the ability to bring new housing to market.

“Trends such as these are not surprising,” said Chris Hill, 2024 President, Maryland REALTORS®. “This is an environment that has consistently kept housing out of reach for many Marylanders, and it’s why we have a strong interest in working with our legislators in Annapolis to address housing affordability—namely, finding ways to encourage the construction of missing middle housing, putting some real teeth behind Maryland’s first-time homebuyer savings account program, and fully supporting Maryland’s housing programs, like the Maryland Mortgage Program, which has helped so many first-time homebuyers over the years.”