Active Pricing

The Altos Research charts you see all over my site are for ACTIVE prices only.  They don't reflect closed sales but they are a very good indicator of the trending.  As you can see Inventory is a big drop from July of last year.  And just look at those curves for price and days on market!  Hello seller's market.

Active/Under Contract

The spring market is in full swing!  At the time of this writing there are 43 homes for sale in Bethesda zip  code 20816.  They range in price from $619,000 to $10,750,000. 

44 homes are under contract and they range in price from $369,000 to $2,450,000.  The low end is basically a lot that was bid up over $400K over in Crestview.  Still a good deal!  Many of the homes under contract were on the market for a few days at most.  With a dearth of inventory this spring, well priced homes have gone quickly.

Sold Price Range Stats

No sales in the lowest price brackets or the highest yet this year.  Our concentration of volume is, as it has been, in that $550K- $1M bracket.  Homes that are priced correctly in that range are flying off the shelf!  Families love this area for our proximity to downtown and for the fantastic schools in Wood Acres ES, Bannockburn ES and Westbrook ES. 

The chart below contrasts the sales by month between this year and last year.  Year to date there are 37 sales in the zip code and at this time last year there were 35.  With 13 more scheduled to close in May we'll be in the same range as 2009.

The sales volume for this year through April is $33,422,000 vs last year at $34,784,500.  That is a -4% decrease.  It bears watching through the rest of the season.

You can see that when I break this down by the price ranges the average and median prices are much closer together.  It's easier to track the overall market with broad stats but for the price brackets a more true picture emerges when we break it down.

The average days on market are surprisingly lower for the higher price bracket.  Until you understand what the sales were.  5921 Searl Terrace went under contract in just two days and sold for its asking price of $1,539,000.  The home at 5608 Jordan Road Sold for its asking price of $1,900,000 in 13 days.  This sale is a bit deceiving in the stats, though, because it had been on the market for a year or so at higher prices.  At this price it was considered good value and sold.  The new buyers got a great house!
 
As you can see, the sellers overall are getting about 97% of their asking price.  In the $1M-$1.25M price range three homes were on the market for a significant period of time and had price reductions in the 10% range when they sold.  Otherwise this price range, also would have a higher list to sale ratio.  Overall it's a healthy market.  Some homes are bid up in price by buyer demand and others sold at list.  I would counsel a current buyer to offer the list price if it's supported by the comps and not try to get a deal.  You are better off getting a house!

Median Price Appreciation

We are seeing a bit of appreciation in the median price for this zip code.   Note the high water mark in 2007 and we are inching our way back up there though we are still down about 4% from that mark.  We will need to see a marked improvement in price for the remainder of the year to get back to that number.  Given that we are at the tail end of the busiest season and the end of the credit we'll see if that is likely or not.

Homes Sold in Bethesda 20816