Residential home prices rose in June compared to the same period of 2017, according to Maryland REALTORS. Average home prices rose by 2.9 percent for the fifth month in a row, while median prices increased by 4.0 percent as compared to the same time in 2017.
"Average and median residential home sale prices continued to trend up for a fifth month, while the months of available inventory remained steady compared to 2017," said Maryland REALTORS President Boyd Campbell. "The continued lack of inventory and rising interest rates are starting to show signs of a slowing housing market," added Campbell,
"Consumers should seriously consider taking advantage of low interest rates as experts predict they will continue to rise. The cumulative effect of multiple increases in rates can significantly impact monthly payments, therefore reducing options of housing choice."
The “Units” category represents sales settled in that month. The “Pending Units” category includes units currently under contract, which will settle in the future. “Active Inventory” includes units that remain on the market.
The average sales is the weighted average of sales prices in the county, calculated by weighting the price of homes by the number of homes sold. To calculate the weighted average Maryland price, we weight the average price for all 24 Maryland jurisdictions by the number of homes sold.
The median price is the middle value of the prices of all homes sold in the period—the price at which half the sold homes are above and half are below in selling price. We estimate the median price for home sales in each Maryland jurisdiction, because CAR and MRIS do not provide this level of detail. Median price for the whole state is calculated by using the simple unweighted averages to calculate a state weighted average for all 24 Maryland jurisdictions and establishing a median value through appropriate weighting techniques.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
