The median price of home sales in Montgomery County dipped by 4 percent last month compared to sales in February 2014, according to a new report released Tuesday by Real Estate Business Intelligence, a real estate research organization.
But the decrease doesn’t reflect what is happening in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase real estate market, where home prices are increasing, according to local real estate agent Jane Fairweather.
“You can’t include Bethesda and Chevy Chase with Montgomery County,” Fairweather said. “We’re just a completely different market. What we are seeing that is really worthy of a story, is the loss of affordability in both the downsizing market and the single-family home market.”
“It really is becoming a community of considerably wealthy people,” Fairweather said. She explained that middle-income families, such as those supported by two government jobs, are losing their ability to purchase homes in this area because of rising prices. Meanwhile, the tear-downs of more affordable homes to make way for larger, more expensive single-family homes and the development of high-price condos are becoming more prevalent.
The report found most counties and municipalities in the region saw home prices increase during the same period, except for Montgomery County and Arlington. Median sale prices in the Washington, D.C., region rose by about 4 percent, according to the report, which used MRIS listing data.
In Montgomery County, median home prices fell from $375,000 in February 2014 to $360,000 in February 2015; while year-to-date prices fell from $375,000 in 2014 to $365,000 in 2015, according to the report.
Homes are also spending more time on the market in Montgomery County, according to the report. Homes that sold in February 2015 spent an average of 54 days on the market compared to homes that sold in February 2014, which spent an average of 36 days. Homes throughout the region, except those in Washington, D.C., spent more time on the market, the report found.
Fairweather said, however, that the Bethesda and Chevy Chase market remains strong and homes are not sitting on the market.
“The only houses that sit on the market are the ones that are clearly overpriced,” Fairweather said. “There is not a smidgen of a slowdown in this market.”
