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Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Home prices throughout Anne Arundel County slowed their climb in 2006, and fewer homes were sold, stemming the double-digit-percentage price increases of previous years.
The median sales price for single-family houses and townhouses in the county rose 8 percent, to $340,000, in 2006, from $314,900 in 2005, according to a Washington Post analysis of state sales records. Condominium sales were not included.
The bulk of sales in the county were clustered in a few Zip codes -- 21061 (Glen Burnie), 21114 (Crofton), 21122 (Pasadena) and 21144 (Severn). The median home price in each of those Zip codes was below the countywide median. In those less-expensive areas, nearly 3,000 homes were sold. Overall in the county, 8,632 homes were sold, down 6 percent.
The sharpest price increase in an area with more than a handful of sales was in Zip code 21054 (Gambrills), where the median home price shot up 22 percent, to $475,000. Real estate agents said the price increases there can be attributed to its proximity to Fort Meade, which will grow by at least 5,000 new jobs under the federal government's Base Realignment and Closure program.
As a major employer, Fort Meade is expected to be an increasing draw for the area. Real estate investors also have been active in Gambrills, refurbishing older homes in and around the town.
"They were taking the housing stock, improving it and putting it back on the market," said Tom Hough, president of the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors. "Something that went for $300,000 in 2005 was going for $400,000 in 2006."
Investor-refurbished properties were one driver of the run-up in countywide prices in 2004 and 2005, said Hough, whose offices are based in Severna Park.
"What I see is us returning to a more normal market," he said. "The expectations got a little skewed."
Sale prices dropped in 10 Zip codes in 2006, but most of those were slight decreases or based on only a few sales.
"It's slower than the overheated pace we had, but I think we have a pretty steady market right now," said Bill Whitman, a Long & Foster agent operating from a Galesville office. "We have to counsel our sellers upfront as to what the realistic price is. It's not a dead market. There are a lot of buyers out there, and . . . pretty steady sales."
The county's most expensive Zip code was 21056, home to posh Gibson Island, where 10 homes sold, with a median price of $1,704,000.
Anne Arundel County's mainland attracts buyers because of its strong economy, agents said. Pinned between Washington and Baltimore, its job market is steady. Few developments are being built because of restrictions tied to school population, Hough said, and that has created demand for existing homes.
"The employment in Anne Arundel is very, very strong, and I think that is the real indicator," Hough said.
-- Krissah Williams, Washington Post Staff Writer
The median sales price for single-family houses and townhouses in the county rose 8 percent, to $340,000, in 2006, from $314,900 in 2005, according to a Washington Post analysis of state sales records. Condominium sales were not included.
The sharpest price increase in an area with more than a handful of sales was in Zip code 21054 (Gambrills), where the median home price shot up 22 percent, to $475,000. Real estate agents said the price increases there can be attributed to its proximity to Fort Meade, which will grow by at least 5,000 new jobs under the federal government's Base Realignment and Closure program.
As a major employer, Fort Meade is expected to be an increasing draw for the area. Real estate investors also have been active in Gambrills, refurbishing older homes in and around the town.
"They were taking the housing stock, improving it and putting it back on the market," said Tom Hough, president of the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors. "Something that went for $300,000 in 2005 was going for $400,000 in 2006."
Investor-refurbished properties were one driver of the run-up in countywide prices in 2004 and 2005, said Hough, whose offices are based in Severna Park.
"What I see is us returning to a more normal market," he said. "The expectations got a little skewed."
Sale prices dropped in 10 Zip codes in 2006, but most of those were slight decreases or based on only a few sales.
"It's slower than the overheated pace we had, but I think we have a pretty steady market right now," said Bill Whitman, a Long & Foster agent operating from a Galesville office. "We have to counsel our sellers upfront as to what the realistic price is. It's not a dead market. There are a lot of buyers out there, and . . . pretty steady sales."
The county's most expensive Zip code was 21056, home to posh Gibson Island, where 10 homes sold, with a median price of $1,704,000.
Anne Arundel County's mainland attracts buyers because of its strong economy, agents said. Pinned between Washington and Baltimore, its job market is steady. Few developments are being built because of restrictions tied to school population, Hough said, and that has created demand for existing homes.
"The employment in Anne Arundel is very, very strong, and I think that is the real indicator," Hough said.
-- Krissah Williams, Washington Post Staff Writer
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SOURCE: Full-value transactions as reported by the state
MAP: Dan Keating and Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso - The Washington Post
© 2007 The Washington Post Company
