In this market update, I go over the real numbers of Worcester County Maryland, and Sussex County Delaware, and what I'm seeing in the field helping buyers and sellers every day. Having fun doing it as well!
Check out my YouTube vid above if you'd rather be updated in video form or keep on reading as I'll summarize everything in blog format.
First, I always like to start with the interest rate, and let's take a look at the Freddie Mac website here and you can see it's right at 6.9% for a 30-year fix as of August 9th. At the end of July, it was hovering right around 6.81%. Industry experts are predicting the rate to go down in 2024 eventually as inflation has been cooling.
Let's look at the local data numbers here and you can see Maryland is on the left, Delaware is on the right. All information from the local MLS for July 2023.
Maryland- Worcester County July 2023
Days on the market (DOM)- 31 DaysMonths of Inventory- 2.5 Months
The medium sales price is $397,000 and the total units sold are 158.
Delaware- Sussex County July 2023
Days on the market (DOM)- 42 DaysMonths of Inventory- 3.1 Months
The medium sales price is $445,000 and the total units sold are 388.
I also pulled up the numbers from our MLS to compare this July 2023 to last year in 2022 mainly to look at what home prices are doing as that is the number one question I get asked.
Take a look at the comparison below and you'll see Worcester County's median sales price has gone up 7.5%. Homes sold did decrease by 19%. That 7.5% is a pretty big number!
Sussex County median sales price had also increased by 4.5% and home sales decreased by 17.5% on the Delaware side.
So, the last thing I wanted to share real quick is a great graph and prediction from industry experts showing what they think the rest of 2023 will look like as far as home prices on a National level. When you average those predictions, we get a consensus of a +.7% appreciation going into 2024. So not as doom and gloom as most preaching back in 2022.
I agree with that average appreciation and think we'll see in Worcester and Sussex Counties something similar to that as inventory is tight.
I wrap up in my video version market update on my YouTube channel talking about what I've seen helping sellers and buyers this past month.
Both buyer clients that I helped found a home in Ocean Pines, Maryland. The first one was a client that I've been advising with for 5 years total! Yes, 5 years. This was his primary residence and he worked very hard to straighten some things out with his credit. The home we found was our 6th try as he used a VA loan and needed some help with closing costs. We were able to get the seller to contribute 2% of the purchase price towards closing help and made it happen! Appraisal came in a bit lower but negotiated as well.
The second buyer client was looking for a vacation home for the family as they had vacationed in Ocean Pines many times and thought it was time to purchase their own. Found the perfect one with extra storage and turnkey. Multiple offer scenarios on this one and we were able to craft a winning offer to beat out the others. The big thing I like to do is to talk with the listing agent to see what is important to the sellers and what may look more attractive to them to help create a win-win.
Lastly, I talk more about a very nice direct oceanfront penthouse listing that I have in Ocean City, Maryland for sale. Days on the market are sitting right around two months. We were under contract a few weeks in but buyers got cold feet and we had to start over and go back on the market.
This one does have a booked schedule of short-term rentals on it and Saturdays are the only day to be shown. Activity has been down that I've noticed but that is pretty common for this market in the dead of summer in July/August. Things tend to hype up more once September hits as we call this the second selling season.
Overall, I think if you are looking to sell it may take a little more patience this time of year and how the current market is with a higher interest rate. A lot of properties for sale are moving along still pretty quickly with multiple offers. Especially if they are more in that median price point for the area around $400K.
Hope that helps and reach out if you have any questions!
Cheers, Rich Price.
