Prince George's County

The housing downturn caught up to Prince George's County last year.

In 2006, buyers in the county sent median prices up 18 percent, the kind of double-digit appreciation that ended in 2005 in the rest of the region. But in 2007, the median price was essentially flat, increasing just $100, to $340,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of government sales records.

The same pattern emerged in the market decline of the early 1990s, according to David Maplesden of Long & Foster's Takoma Park office. Although Montgomery County prices dropped in 1991, its more affordable next-door neighbor didn't have a decline until 1992.

This time, price increases in Prince George's couldn't be sustained once houses inside the Beltway in Silver Spring and Takoma Park became available for less than $400,000, he said. People who would prefer those areas but were choosing Hyattsville and Mount Rainier as more affordable alternatives now could get their first choices, he said.

Across the county, sales volume dropped 44 percent from 2006 to 2007. Beltsville's 20705 Zip code had the biggest drop -- down 58 percent, to 175 from 414 -- but Zip code 20743, part of Capitol Heights, had the biggest drop in number of sales, with 488 fewer sales, a 46 percent drop to 576 from 1,064.

Among areas with more than a few home sales, the county's biggest price gain was in Zip code 20722, a part of Brentwood where 72 houses sold in 2007. The median sales price there rose 7 percent to $315,000.

A Zip code that covers another part of Brentwood as well as Mount Rainier, 20712, had a median price of $325,000, a 3 percent drop. "Brentwood is definitely not in any better shape than Mount Rainier," Maplesden said. "That's a statistical anomaly."

Lorena Rojas, an agent with Exit Dynamic Realty in Burtonsville, has a listing in 20722, and her client dropped the price from $300,000 to $290,000 after a little more than a month on the market. "Once I dropped the price, there was no activity," she said. Prices in the neighborhood range from $199,900 to $399,000. With both Rojas's listing and the Zip code's least expensive house, the owners are attempting to sell for less than their mortgage balances because they are trying to avoid foreclosure.

Rojas has another listing about to come on line in the county, and the seller also is trying to persuade her lender to let her sell for less than the amount owed. In both of Rojas's listings, the owners bought with no money down in 2005.

Dee Dee Blizard, an agent at Re/Max Rewards in Greenbelt, said she believes the county's prices might dip in 2008. In the past 45 days, the most common price band has been $210,000 to $299,000, she said: Close to 40 percent of sales have been in that range. On average, the houses sold had been listed for 103 days.

Houses that are priced tens of thousands of dollars higher are taking longer to sell, Blizard said.

"The market is not poised for a quick rebound," Maplesden said. He predicted a repeat this year of 2007. "I think you'll see the inventory continue to climb through the spring and summer. If the economy slows locally and nationally, that's not going to help."

But, he said, "I think it'll hit bottom this year."