Charles County, Maryland
Home prices in Charles County fell slightly last year, while the number of transactions dropped sharply.
The county's median home price dropped 1 percent, to $325,000, from $329,900 in 2006, according to a Washington Post analysis based on state sales records for single-family houses and townhouses. Condominium sales were not included.
While the drop in median house prices was small compared with many parts of the country, the number of home sales fell 41 percent, to 1,859 last year from 3,151 in 2006.
"I did a third of the business I did the year before," said Cindy Benjamin, a real estate agent with Century 21 New Millennium in La Plata. There were plenty of houses on the market, but many of them didn't sell.
The county remains the least expensive housing market in the region. That is part of its appeal, said Russ Boyce, an agent in Re/Max 100's White Plains office.
In recent years, Charles County has attracted people who want to move up to better homes but were priced out of Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. "I have seen . . . in the last five years that Charles County has become part" of the Washington area, said Boyce, who has worked in the area for two decades.
Waldorf and the surrounding areas (Zip codes 20601, 20602 and 20603) account for most of the population and most of the home sales. The three Zip codes posted 1,127 sales, or almost two-thirds of the county total. But that was more than 40 percent less than in 2006. Prices fell 2 percent in Zip code 20601 and 3 percent in 20603. In Zip code 20602, they rose 2 percent, but it remained the least expensive part of Waldorf, with a median price of $305,000.
The pattern was similar in most areas with a sizable number of sales. For instance, in La Plata's Zip code, 20646, the median price fell 2 percent, to $351,250; the number of sales fell 33 percent.
When there are only a few sales, median prices can show much more dramatic swings, but they're generally not statistically significant. That was the case in Cobb Island, Zip code 20625, where there were just 14 sales in 2007, down from 20 in 2006. The median price jumped 31 percent, to $285,500 from $217,500 the previous year.
Boyce said Cobb Island is appealing because it's a place where "you can actually afford a home on the water."
-- Brooke Howell, Special to The Washington Post
The county's median home price dropped 1 percent, to $325,000, from $329,900 in 2006, according to a Washington Post analysis based on state sales records for single-family houses and townhouses. Condominium sales were not included.
While the drop in median house prices was small compared with many parts of the country, the number of home sales fell 41 percent, to 1,859 last year from 3,151 in 2006.
"I did a third of the business I did the year before," said Cindy Benjamin, a real estate agent with Century 21 New Millennium in La Plata. There were plenty of houses on the market, but many of them didn't sell.
The county remains the least expensive housing market in the region. That is part of its appeal, said Russ Boyce, an agent in Re/Max 100's White Plains office.
In recent years, Charles County has attracted people who want to move up to better homes but were priced out of Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. "I have seen . . . in the last five years that Charles County has become part" of the Washington area, said Boyce, who has worked in the area for two decades.
Waldorf and the surrounding areas (Zip codes 20601, 20602 and 20603) account for most of the population and most of the home sales. The three Zip codes posted 1,127 sales, or almost two-thirds of the county total. But that was more than 40 percent less than in 2006. Prices fell 2 percent in Zip code 20601 and 3 percent in 20603. In Zip code 20602, they rose 2 percent, but it remained the least expensive part of Waldorf, with a median price of $305,000.
The pattern was similar in most areas with a sizable number of sales. For instance, in La Plata's Zip code, 20646, the median price fell 2 percent, to $351,250; the number of sales fell 33 percent.
When there are only a few sales, median prices can show much more dramatic swings, but they're generally not statistically significant. That was the case in Cobb Island, Zip code 20625, where there were just 14 sales in 2007, down from 20 in 2006. The median price jumped 31 percent, to $285,500 from $217,500 the previous year.
Boyce said Cobb Island is appealing because it's a place where "you can actually afford a home on the water."
-- Brooke Howell, Special to The Washington Post
SOURCE: Full-value transactions as reported by the state
MAP: Dan Keating and Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso - The Washington Post
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
