The local Bethesda real estate market in November 2012 continues to heat up as extremely low inventory is driving prices higher. As this Bethesda real estate market trends report shows, the total sales were up 10% in November 2012 versus November 2011 with the median sales price up 14%. In Chevy Chase, the total # of sales was equivalent to the prior year with prices up 15%. As shown on the chart below, most of the local areas including Potomac and Washington DC had higher prices and sales. Days on market in all areas including Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington, Potomac, Rockville, Silver Spring and all of Washington DC were down from 21% to 56% while the active # of listings were down 15% to 51%.
Perhaps the most telling statistic is the “Months Supply” which is the absorption rate established by dividing the available inventory by the number of properties selling in a month. The definition of a buyers vs sellers market is:
- SELLERS MARKET – 1 to 4 months supply of homes
- NORMAL MARKET (neither side has significant advantage) – 5 to 6 months supply of homes
- BUYERS MARKET – 7 or more months supply of homes
You will see from the following chart that we are currently in a very strong seller’s market in all of these local area markets. Distressed property sales can skew the statistics but there are not many short sales and foreclosures in these markets currently to have much impact.
