FRANKLIN COUNTY REAL ESTATE - SEPT 2013
For September 2013, the housing market in Franklin County, PA rolled along with mostly minor changes from the prior month and the prior year as well. The story in Washington County, MD was quite different, however, as a trend that began in May accelerated in September.
In Franklin County, the number of homes sold (settled, not merely under contract) was 120, down 4.0 percent from 125 in September 2012. Active listings—that is, homes available for sale—plumped up 5.8 percent to 894, from 845 last year. The average days-on-market for the homes that sold was 122, an improvement from last year of nearly nine percent. Exactly 100 of sold homes were detached; the rest were duplexes, town homes and (1) condos.
Now, the trend in Washington County, Maryland, is this: Since May 2013, home sales have advanced each month compared with the same month a year earlier, but the inventory of homes available for sale also has increased. At the end of September, there were 838 active listings in Washington County, up 22.9 percent from just 682 a year ago. Since sales in September were 121, the ratio of inventory to sales (also known as months of supply) was 6.9, better (for home sellers, anyway) than the prior year but not as good as in April 2013, when the ratio was 5.7. This is a trend worth watching. If the pace of sales falters while inventories are increasing, the higher prices seen in the county for most of 2013 could evaporate.
As colder weather gradually sweeps in and the leaves fall, the real estate market continues to be terrific for home buyers and good, or at least tolerable, for sellers as well. Folks should consider basing their real estate decisions less on what the market is doing and more on their individual or family needs.
Figures courtesy of RealEstate Business Intelligence LLC, a MRIS company
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