2008 in a handbag – Where has the year gone?

Some of the year end numbers have finally posted and what a year it has been.  The actual totals will be all available next month for close out purposes, but I have pulled some of the statistics from MLS myself.  The December Housing report for Frederick is done and you can see it here.  We finished on a positive note with a 32% increase in Contracts over last year.  Inventory levels are promising as well by show less than last years trends.  Sales were only off by 6.5% from last year.  Will this carry over into 2009?  Sure it will.  I am sure we will see some flashes of hope with some discouragement, but we will make it through the end of the housing bust.

This wasn’t a bad year for me nor has it been a great year.  There were approximately 1300 REALTORS® in Frederick County (not counting the agents from adjoining counties that do business here) prying for almost 2100 sales in 2008.  (I must remind you, these are not official only very close approximates.)  I was fortunate to eight sales of my own.  Majority of this year’s business for me had been below $300,000 in within walking distance to downtown Frederick.  It seemed to me the upgrade from the town house to a larger single family was very scarce.  Condo prices just weren’t low enough for sales.    But again it was the overall inventory that hampers the sales along with the large amount of short sales and foreclosures.  The tightening of the purse strings by the fearful banks didn’t help either.  But as a local appraiser has said before, it is all about the inventory levels.   We need to get below 1100 to be healthy.

This market has had it’s toll on local real estate companies as well as agents.  Plenty of local offices shut their doors or consolidated in other locations.   I have seen remodeling companies increase thier business as people are staying put in their current digs.  This market has had it’s challenges for the builders as well.  They don’t have any traffic in their developments and have had to lay off many workers.  In years past, it would take more than six months to build a house.  Now they are able to build it much quicker due to the amount of available workforce.  It is only the permitting process that slows them up.  Another reason to buy if you can do it.

Bob is a licensed Real Estate agent in Maryland and Pennsylvania. You can contact him via email at bob@gotbob4homes.com or call him on his cell phone at 240-285-4918.  Bob left the Frederick area to manage a resort office near Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. He still stays in touch with the area that he has grown to love.