Howard County

The median sale price of a Howard County home fell by 2 percent last year, from $407,000 to $400,500.

But Howard remains the only suburban Maryland county besides Montgomery, with a median higher than $400,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of state sales records for single-family houses and townhouses in seven suburban Maryland counties. Condominium prices were not included.

"People who have been in their houses several years are still making money" when they sell, said Ilene Kessler, an agent with Re/Max Advantage Realty in Columbia and immediate past president of the Maryland Association of Realtors.

The slowdown began in 2006, when, after several years of double-digit-percentage growth, Howard home prices increased by only 6 percent. About 30 percent fewer homes sold in 2007 than the previous year: 2,956 houses vs. 4,163 in 2006.

New-home construction in the county fell in 2007, which contributed to the lower prices, Kessler said.

The declines are across the board, said Bill Danos, an agent with Long & Foster in Columbia. "It doesn't seem to matter what price range the house is in," he said.

Western Howard County's Glenelg, in Zip code 21737, where home prices increased by 20 percent in 2006 to the highest in the county, had a 17 percent drop in median sales price last year, the largest among Zip codes where 10 or more houses were sold. The median there dipped from $825,000 to $687,500.

Ellicott City's heavily populated 21043 Zip code experienced the second-largest decrease, with the median price dropping 6 percent, to $425,000.

But prices rose in other pockets of the county. Jessup, in Zip code 20794, experienced a 6 percent increase in median home price, to $339,750 from $322,000. Fulton, in Zip code 20759, home to the new, high-end Maple Lawn development, had its median price increase 8 percent, to $838,100 from $775,000.

In the planned community of Columbia, made up of Zip codes 21044, 21045 and 21046, where about 40 percent of the county's population lives, the median prices averaged out to be essentially unchanged. Eastern Columbia, Zip code 21045, had a 3 percent decrease that offset southern Columbia's 3 percent increase, while prices in western Columbia's 21044 Zip code stayed flat.

Despite the gloomy market, property owners whose homes are in the next round of tax reassessment, which occurs every three years, should not expect assessment decreases, said Renee Mierczak, assistant supervisor for the Howard County office of the state's tax department.

"Overall . . . and this could change, it's pretty close to what it was three years ago," she said.

Danos has seen a rise in foreclosures and short sales in the county, similar to the situation in other counties. Sellers, faced with a glut of competition, are under pressure to spruce up their properties and offer help with closing costs. This, along with low interest rates, presents a good opportunity for homeowners and investors, he said.

"Howard has historically been a very stable market even in difficult times, and that still holds true to today," Danos said. "People come here because of our school system and because it's the ideal location between Baltimore and Washington, D.C."