East Bethesda Real Estate Report for 2010

said on December 2nd, 2010 filed under: Bethesda, State of the Market

It’s time for my annual number crunching. How is East Bethesda faring in 2010? Pretty well, in fact. For the first time since 2007 prices are up by 4.6%, a welcome change from the last few years. As of this writing we have 10 homes for sale – 6 of them priced above $1,000,000, and the other 4 below $750,000. And so far 38 homes have sold in 2010 through December 1, the same figure as 2009.

Compared to the rest of the nation, those of us in East Bethesda are quite fortunate. From our all time high average sales price of $933,825 in 2007 we saw a depreciation of 9.5% in 2009, well below the national average. With the modest rebound in 2010, we still find ourselves sitting 5.1% below the high. As an East Bethesda resident myself, I’m quite happy with these figures. Head outside the beltway, and the news is decidedly more grim. In 20874 Germantown an astonishing 50% of all real estate transactions (through Oct. 28) were bank owned (i.e. foreclosure or short sale). Rockville (20850) fared better with 73 out of 397 transactions involving a bank, or 18.3%. Bank sales do not boost property values, in fact, quite the opposite. Our local average for bank sales is 4.5% (zips 20814, 20815, 20816, 20817, 20818, 20015 & 20016. For more information on local bank sales, click here).

Historically low mortgage rates make it an ideal time to buy and sell. I refinanced at 4.5% with a 30-year fixed rate. Had I waited a month or so and timed it perfectly, that number could have been closer to 4.0%. Lately, rates have been edging up. A lot of buyers get hung up on the price of a home, when really, it should be a combination of price and mortgage rates. Rates have a huge impact on home affordability.

One thing to look at when evaluating the “mental health” of a particular market is the relationship between original asking price and final sales price. A really large spread signals a disconnect between reality and fantasy, while a smaller spread indicates an understanding of current values and market conditions (by buyers, sellers and their agents). In 2009 this relationship was not so healthy. The average property received 91.3% of the original asking price. We had a lot of disappointed East Bethesda sellers in 2009. So far in 2010, sellers have received an average 96.6% of the original asking price. What a difference!

The graph below is full of statistics about the East Bethesda market place. If you would like to learn more about the individual properties that sold, please click here.

If a move is in your future, I would be very happy to help you learn more about our local market and/or provide you with a complementary home evaluation and price analysis. I’ve lived in East Bethesda for 15 years. Give me a call!

To read more about East Bethesda: Top 10 Reasons to Live in East Bethesda or East Bethesda School Guide

posted by Marcie Sandalow

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 7:14 am and is filed under Bethesda, State of the Market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.