Home Prices in Md. Push Upward and Outward

For Affordability, Think Older, Not Near Transit

This house on Castlefield Street in Ellicott City, listed for $2.2 million, is typical of recent high-end sales in Howard. (By Tom Allen -- The Washington Post)

With its Potomac McMansions, sprawling old-money Tudors in Chevy Chase and new inside-the-Beltway homes all fetching well over $1 million, you might think Montgomery County would have the fastest-climbing real estate prices around.

In fact, it had the second-lowest rate of appreciation in the region for houses and townhouses compared with the previous year. Only in Alexandria did house prices grow more slowly in 2005 (17.2 percent) than in Montgomery, where houses appreciated by 19.8 percent. But at $435,000, Montgomery did have the highest median sales price for suburban Maryland, according to a Washington Post analysis of government records across the region.

House and townhouse prices in suburban Maryland -- Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Charles and Calvert counties -- appreciated at an overall rate of 24.9 percent in 2005; the median sales price was $337,350, lower than in the District or Northern Virginia. (St. Mary's County is not included in the calculations. The median price of houses there in 2005 was $269,900, up 26 percent from 2004.)

The median is the point at which half the sales were more expensive and half less.

Condominium prices rose quickly in Maryland, by 35.5 percent, to reach a median of $210,000.

In suburban Maryland, affordability boils down to the old real estate agent mantra: location, location, location.

Howard County's $384,000 was the second-highest median price, followed by Anne Arundel's at $314,900 and Frederick County's at $306,000.

For lower-priced houses, look south and east of the District. But be aware: These areas are also appreciating quickly. For example, the median house price in Prince George's County shot up 28.7 percent last year, to $287,000. Calvert County's median jumped to $304,000, a rise of 28.9 percent. Charles County's median price rose 25.7 percent, to $298,000.

A recent check of sales listings showed that many townhouses and older detached houses sold at or below $300,000 in both Charles and Calvert counties, a reflection of the relatively long commutes into Washington.

Thirty-year-old split-levels with five bedrooms and two or more baths were on the market for less than $375,000 in Waldorf. A similar house in western Montgomery County would easily fetch double that price.

Prices in Prince George's County are relatively low. A five-bedroom Upper Marlboro Colonial was selling recently for $369,000, and a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath townhouse in Lanham for $329,900. Both offer quick access to the Capital Beltway and the District.

Despite the high cost of houses in Montgomery County, more houses were sold there last year than in Calvert, Charles, Frederick and Howard counties combined. Montgomery also has a larger population than those four combined.