Happy New Year 2015! As the data and statistics roll in for 2014 residential real estate sales, the Baltimore City neighborhood I find myself tracking the closest is Hampden. According to Real Estate Business Intelligence (RBI) and Zillow, the average sold price in Hampden increased 9.93% this past year. In 2013 the average sold price was $185,000, in 2014 that price jumped to $204,000.
Around 130 residential properties sell each year in the Baltimore Maryland 21211 Hampden community. Last year roughly 40% of those properties sold within the first thirty days on market, although the overall average days on market in Hampden during 2014 was sixty-two days. If it is taking more than sixty days to sell your Hampden property chances are one of the following things is happening; the property is overpriced, the condition is off-putting to buyers, or the marketing for the property is not up to snuff.
Wanting to dive a bit deeper into the data, I reviewed the properties that sold in the second half of 2014. My criteria was limited to properties that were priced at $175,000 and above, and conveniently there were exactly 50 sales of this kind as of Christmas 2014.
While Zillow cites an overall $169 price-per-square foot yield in Hampden for 2014, the data I examined supported that in properties priced $175,000 and above, sellers were achieving on average $189 per square foot. So for a 1200 square foot house, that's a price of $226,800. I am also including sales priced at or above $175,000 in Medfield as my experience is that Medfield buyers and Hampden buyers are one in the same.
Why the focus on properties listed for $175,000 and above? For me and for a lot of my fellow agents, that's the sweet-spot in Hampden real estate. It's the Hampden luxury market. To achieve $189 a square foot (and beyond) sellers need to have their properties in good working order. More significantly, what really has traction are the properties that offer a cohesive design. Does the entire property match in quality and sophistication? If so, you can easily surpass the $189 per square foot price and see results at $200 a square foot and above. Of the 50 homes I analyzed, 44% achieved prices of $200 per square foot and above. Again, these are the 50 most significant residential sales in Hampden from the second half of 2014.
Something to keep in mind is that we are only talking about properties that sold. Many overpriced listings still failed to sell. Zillow forecasts that 2015 Hampden home values will rise 3.3% this year. If they are correct, that will push the average sold price to $210,000.
Thinking of waiting until April to buy a house in Hampden? Both the Spring 2013 and 2014 Hampden markets achieved median sales price at or above $240,000. Real Estate Business Intelligence (RBI) shows that in 14 of the previous 24 months in Hampden, the median sold price was at or above $200,000. Six of those months posted median sold prices at or above $240,000, and those six months were typically Spring months.
So how hot is the Hampden real estate market? This data surprised me, and I'm in Hampden for real estate purposes all the time. Hampden is trendy, so you are going to pay more for your home. People have a great time living in Hampden, so they are quite willing to pay the cost of admission. Personally, I hope that the market levels off this year. I like that my first-time home buyers can afford Hampden, I don't want to see them get priced out.
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