Housing Market Continues Decline In Activity In Howard County: HCAR Report

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The housing market in Howard County has continued to see a decline in activity, according to the Howard County Association of Realtors.

HCAR released its January 2024 report this week, show that there has been some activity, but it's slower than January 2023 transactions with a 9.9 percent decrease in home sales.

In January 2024, the median sold price for residential homes in Howard County was $517,000, representing a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to the previous month and an increase of 10 percent from January 2023.

"Typically, a market with between four and five months of supply indicates a balanced housing market. Currently, there is 0.70 months of supply in Howard County, which is higher than a year ago (0.64). The months-of-supply metric is based on average sales activity over the past 12 months. This measure can overstate how rapidly inventory is being consumed in a changing housing market," HCAR reported.

New listings were down 20.2 percent (215) from last year (257), and up 55.3 percent from the previous month (132). The average days on market for units sold was 20 days, which is a 23.1 percent decrease from the same time last year (26) and 27 percent below the five-year January average of 27 days.

Active listings in Howard County were down 11.8 percent (195) compared to the previous year (221). Closed sales (155) saw a 9.9 percent decrease compared to the previous year (172) and a 36.7 percent decrease compared to the previous month (245).

There was a 19.4 percent month-over-month increase in new contract activity with 215 new pendings; an 18.3 percent month-over-month increase in all pendings (new contracts + contracts carried over from December) to 291; and a 4.4 percent increase in supply to 195 active units.

This resulted in a contract ratio of 1.49 pendings per active listing, up from 1.21 in December 2023 and an increase from 1.38 in January 2023. The contract ratio is 16 percent lower than the five-year January average of 1.77.