Lets talk about Absorption Rate in Frederick County

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Ab-what? Are we cleaning up a spill? Or a paper towel commercial? No. But similar idea…

The absorption rate is the rate at which the current real estate inventory would be absorbed by the current buying trends, if no more homes came on the market. (don’t try looking this definition up…this is the way I translate it.) Most real estate glossaries define it as follows;

Absorption Rate = Total Active homes divide by last months solds

The problem I see with using only last month, if it was historically a slow month then you think you have a high absorption rate. I prefer to looked at an average of the last six months. I feel that gives you a better idea of the real absorption rate. Why? The last six month will have some peaks and valleys that will be flattened out and give a much more stable number. Sure, you can do a whole year but might miss a current trend indicator that might be on a climb or decrease. An indicator of the market is the amount of months on the market on what type of market you are in.

Less than six months = Sellers Market ( High prices, low inventory, shorter days on market, less contingent contracts)

Six Months = Normal market.

More than six months = Buyers Market (Lower prices, high inventory, longer days on market, seller concessions, contingent contracts)

Below you have a table of the latest absorption rates of some of the areas in Frederick County. To put it into perspective, I have also added adjoining county averages. First blush looks like homes closer to the Washington DC area are moving fast than further out.

Market update in and around Frederick County 2/4/08

Area	Active	Contract	Sold in last 90 Days	Absorption Rate
Adamstown & Point of Rocks	33	8	16	6 Months
Brunswick & Knoxville	70	12	22	12 Months
Frederick	1100	135	281	10 Months
Ijamsville	45	6	6	17 Months
Middletown & Myersville	120	15	24	13 Months
New Market	122	16	27	13 Months
Thurmont & Emmitsburg	111	11	22	12 Months
Walkersville & Woodsboro	82	7	15	11 Months

Frederick County	1893	228	448	11 Months
Montgomery County	4822	963	1553	8 Months
Washington County	1316	122	218	16 Months
Howard County	1592	286	531	8 Months
Carroll County	1083	138	267	10 Months

Clearly we are in a Buyer’s Market. The Adamstown and Point of Rocks area are experiencing a much better market than the rest of the area.

If you don’t see your town above, send me an email and I will send you one. (it has to be in Maryland…that license thing restricts me from going elsewhere)

February 4, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick Market Conditions, Market Condition

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Frederick Friday for the Fun of it

Schools are closed today and I am off to a managers meeting in Hagerstown… just a quick post.

Today is just a quick video of Jeff Dunham’s performance with Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Ventriloquists always amaze me, then again, I am easily amused. This guy has a bunch of characters in his footlocker…and they are all great. I hope you find it as funny as I did.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go[/youtube]

Be safe if you go out today…

Have a great weekend.

February 1, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick Misc, Friday, Fun