INVENTORY
Active listings are not rebounding. As of April 12th, there are 1,744 properties for sale in the 5-county region. We have struggled to reach 1,800 listings since the beginning of the year.
Wicomico and Dorchester have seen the largest drop in available homes. 155 or more active listings in each of these counties was common at the end of last year. Now, daily inventory is dipping below 110. Sussex and Worcester have both stabilized, and seasonal cycles would suggest that inventory will start to grow as Spring sets in. Somerset has been steadily building inventory over the last 4 – 6 weeks. NEW CONSTRUCTION New construction is one of the essential sources of inventory in a growing real estate market. And our area is growing. All counties except for Somerset have seen a net increase in population from 2020 to 2022. New home builds have played an important role in meeting the strong demand for housing over the last few years. And let’s not forget that the lag in home builds following the recession in ‘08/’09 was one of the key macroeconomic drivers for the housing market challenges that we are facing today. Overall, 21.3% of sales (fee simple, not condos) in 2023 have been new construction. This is a substantial increase from 14.9% in 2022 and more than double than the 9.5% in 2018.
Most of these new construction sales are in Sussex and Dorchester. New developments around Cambridge are pushing new build sales to make-up over 20% of all sales in Dorchester. In Sussex, the metric jumps to 29%. By contrast, Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset are all lagging considerably behind these. Wicomico is at 8.0%, which is less than previous 3 years. Worcester is running ahead of 2022 at 8.2% of sales being new construction. Somerset on the other hand has not had a single new construction sale this year. Inventory is needed in our area and new construction is an essential part of a healthy real estate market. It will be interesting to see how this evolves over the course of the year.
Thanks for reading this month's Market Insights. As always, my inbox is open for questions! Any real estate market question is welcome - Reach me at 443-614-4327 or email me Ryan.Basch@cbrealty.com
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