F2 Real Estate Trends 20
The Washington Post regularly tracks housing sales and prices throughout the Washington area each Saturday in the Real Estate section, comparing information collected for each residential Zip code from each time period last year with that for the corresponding time period in 2005. The chart and map this week compare single-family house and townhouse sales figures in t Calvert County from January through March 2009 with those for the corresponding period in 2010, showing the total number of sales, the median prices and the changes in the medians. The median is the point at which half of the sales prices were higher and half lower. Condominiums were excluded. The sales and price information, collected by The Washington Post, is based on sales recorded in local government offices. That information is in the chart on the right. It excludes some types of transactions, particularly those that are not at market price. As with any statistical compilation, the greater the number of transactions, the more reliable the statistical trend. Moreover, at any given time there may be more sales activity in certain market niches or price ranges, for instance starter homes or high-priced houses, than at other times, and this may influence a median price from year to year. The map provides a snapshot of price trends throughout the geographical area covered by each week’s information.
ON THE WEB
For up-to-date home sales and tax assessments, real estate news and community profiles, visit
www.washingtonpost.com/realestate.
20688 Solomons 20629 SOURCE: Full-value transactions as reported by the state BY DAN KEATING AND NATHANIEL VAUGHN KELSO — THE WASHINGTON POST 20754 Dunkirk Dunkirk 20714 20 20736 2068 20639 Huntingtown 20689 20
Chesapeake Beach
D.C. 20732
MD. VA.
VA. Frederick
Frederick Prince
Prince 206 20678 206 20676 SaintSa nt Leonard Leonard 2068 20615 2065 20657 Lu by Lusby 20685
Percent change in median house price
–3% to –8% 3% or more
No significant change –9% to –14%
–15% to –20% Data not available
–21% or more
P.G. CO.
CHAS. CO.
A.A. CO.
CALVERT CO.
MARY’S CO.
ST.
Ches. Bay
KLMNO
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2010
Calvert County January through March 2009
sold 20615
20629 — 20639 20657 20676 20678 20685 20688
20689 — 20714 20732 20736 20754 TOTAL
1 $625,000 10 407,000
14 248,750
2010
Zip homes purchase homes purchase in median code sold
Total Median Total Median Change price
price
— 1 550,000 7 450,000
3 395,000 — 9 301,585
4 204,950 — 1 445,000
10 356,609 15 289,000 6 457,500 3 365,000 76 $333,221
7 310,142 —
3 450,000 — 1 259,875 price
1 $325,000 -$300,000 —
20 215,000 -33,750 —
43,000 —
8,557 —
5,000 —
4 242,450 -114,159 4 301,450
9 406,000 -51,500 5 402,500
62 $316,450 -$16,771
12,450 37,500
Santa Heim, Merriland? Almost. Mortgage rates again fall to new lows REAL ESTATE NOTES live continued from F1
dent Chris Danser. In order to be closer to family, he and his wife, Michelle, are sell- ing the house that they renovated and expanded. But when they sell, he said, “it’s
going to be a sad day for us.” The couple first rented the 1930
Washington Street house they now live in. Eventually, they found they needed more space — but they loved the location, so rather than buy a larger house, they decided to add on to what they had. They built a two-story addition, giving them a total of four bed- rooms and three bathrooms. They redid the kitchen, built a de- tached workshop, added zoned air conditioning and replaced the roof.
But they intentionally didn’t
finish the backyard fence, because they didn’t want to wall off the neighbor who leaves vegetables from his garden on their picnic ta- ble and often stops to chat. “We love our neighbor,” said
Michelle Danser. Half a dozen properties were recently for sale in Savage, rang- ing from a $1.4 million seven- bedroom estate to a $275,000 two-bedroom Cape Cod. The Dan- sers were asking $399,900 for their house. The housing stock is an eclectic mix — some of it built in the late 1800s, some during another wave in the 1950s and several in more recent years on the few remaining lots. Savage still has some houses
that need renovations. And it doesn’t have the historic street- lights and other landscaping touches seen in places such as Ellicott City and Annapolis. But because it is close to Fort
Meade and the National Security Agency, Savage is expected to be a desirable location for military workers moving to the area as part of the Defense Base Realign- ment and Closure Commission moves. “There are new people moving in all the time,” said Mary Ann Mitchell, a Savage resident who also owns Ma’s Kettle, a small breakfast-and-lunch spot in town. Mitchell, known for her home- made soups, potato salad and bar- becue, is a favorite with workers
LAURA CECH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST The Dansers are sad to be leaving this house, which they renovated.
from NSA and the nearby indus- trial parks. Her son runs Putting on the Ritz Catering, which serves the Historic Savage Mill Manor and the Great Room at the Historic Savage Mill. In addition to historic sites,
Savage has its own post office, li- brary branch, and county park with a playground, ball fields, bas- ketball courts and walking paths through the wooded areas along the Little Patuxent River. Matt Baker, “chief adventure of-
DIGEST
Issues concerning transporta- tion, education, the environment and land development affect deci- sions about where we live. Here’s how some of these topics were re- ported this week in the Metro sec- tion or at
PostLocal.com.
MARYLAND Police retirements
The Prince George’s County po- lice department is facing a pos- sible exodus of its most experi- enced officers. From fiscal 2009 through fiscal
2010, 243 Prince George’s police officers reached 20 years of serv- ice, making them eligible to re- tire. More than 16 percent of the force has the option to retire from the job and receive — at a minimum — 60 percent of their highest two-year salary, plus health care, for life. The force, officials said, has
1,481 officers, although 1,786 posi- tions are authorized. — Matt Zapotosky
Pepco under scrutiny
Maryland’s Public Service Commission is launching an offi- cial investigation into Pepco’s re- cent power failures after recent storms. The commission said al-
most half a million people have been affected by power outages just in the past month.
— Michael E. Ruane THE DISTRICT Unpaid energy audits
More than 100 homeowners who had signed up for free house- hold energy audits last year through the D.C. Department of the Environment received letters this month saying that liens had been filed on their properties be- cause the city never paid a con- tractor $310 for each audit. In response to objections from
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) , Matthew Coo- per, chief executive of the con- tractor, Patuxent Environmental Group Energy Solutions , said the company had not actually filed liens and that Patuxent is in a contract dispute with the depart- ment.
— Phillip Lucas
Rent strike settled A two-year tenants’ rent strike
at a Southeast Washington apart- ment complex, started after the deaths of a toddler and her moth- er in a 2005 laundry-room explo- sion exposed long-standing secu-
rity and maintenance issues, has been settled, with the complex’s owner agreeing to pay $5 million for repairs. Tenants at the 672-unit Marbu-
ry Plaza in the 2300 block of Good Hope Road struck the deal this month with building manag- er Urban Investment Partners of Washington to repair or replace windows, roofs, and heating, air- conditioning, hot water and building-access systems. — Derek Kravitz
VIRGINIA Surplus for the year
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) announced Thursday that Vir- ginia ended the fiscal year with a surplus of about $404 million — almost twice the previous esti- mate. In addition to $82.3 million
that will be spent on a 3 percent bonus for state employees, plans include spending $18 million for education, and $35 million to $40 million each for roads and Vir- ginia’s Water Quality Improve- ment Fund, which is used for the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, said Robert Vaughn, staff director for the House Appropriations Com- mittee.
— Anita Kumar
ficer” at Terrapin Adventures, which opened its ropes course, climbing tower and zip line about a year ago, was drawn to Savage because of its convenient location. The company, which also leads river-tubing, kayak and bike tours, has a storefront in the his- toric Savage Mill. As for the screams that amuse the locals, Baker said: “Almost everyone screams like a little girl on the zip line. . . . It does make you smile.”
realestate@washpost.com
Interest on 30-year loan averaged 4.42 percent
Mortgage rates fell this week to
the latest in a series of record lows amid concerns about the state of the U.S. economy, according to a survey released Thursday by Fred- die Mac. Interest rates on 30-year fixed-
rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.42 percent this week, down from last week’s 4.44 percent and its year-ago level of 5.12 percent, according to the survey. Thirty-year mortgage rates
have fallen to record lows for nine straight weeks. Freddie Mac start- ed the survey in April 1971. Meanwhile, 15-year fixed-rate
mortgages averaged 3.9 percent, down from 3.92 percent last week, the lowest level since Freddie Mac began surveying this loan type in 1991. Fifteen-year mortgage rates have hit record lows for six straight weeks. Freddie Mac said rates on 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages, set at a fixed rate for five years and ad- justable in each following year, was 3.56 percent, unchanged from last week, remaining at its lowest level since Freddie Mac be- gan tracking this loan type in 2005.
One-year ARMs were 3.53 per- cent, unchanged from last week. A year ago, 15-year mortgages
averaged 4.56 percent; the one- year ARM was 4.69 percent, and
the 5/1 ARM was 4.57 percent. Rock-bottom rates should con- tinue to spur demand for home loan refinancing, putting extra cash into consumers’ hands that they can save, use to pay off exist- ing debt or funnel into the econo- my through extra spending. Mortgage applications jumped 13 percent in the week ended Aug. 13, fueled more by homeowners refinancing than by new buyers looking for loans, according to an index from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Record low interest rates have yet to spur home sales, which are being weighed down by unemployment and the end of a federally sponsored home-buyer tax credit. “The weak sales are reflective of
the general economic weakness,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla. “A lot of it still gets back to the job market. Unless you have a full recovery in the job market, you won’t have a full recovery in housing.” Applications for unemploy- ment benefits unexpectedly in- creased last week to the highest level since November. Initial job- less claims rose by 12,000 to 500,000 in the week ended Aug. 14, Labor Department figures showed Thursday. The number of contracts to buy
existing homes dropped 2.6 per- cent in June after plummeting 30 percent in May, according to the National Association of Realtors. Homebuilders’ sentiment fell
in August to its lowest level since March 2009, according to the Na- tional Association of Home Build- ers/Wells Fargo confidence index. Housing starts in July rose less than forecast; and building per- mits, which forecast future activ- ity, declined to the lowest level since May of last year, the Com- merce Department said this week. Bob Walters, chief economist at
Quicken Loans in Detroit said home loan demand at his com- pany has jumped 50 percent over the past month. “Nearly every person who has a
mortgage right now can benefit from refinancing,” he said. “The problem is, many of them cannot due to an array of factors.” Lending standards are tight and some homeowners are “un- derwater” with their mortgages, he said. Underwater mortgages are one of the biggest banes to homeown- ers because negative equity — where the outstanding balance of a loan is greater than the value of a home — makes many of them unqualified for refinancing and prevents some from selling. Borrowers in negative equity positions are more prone to de- faults and foreclosures, both of which are already at sky-high lev- els.
“Unemployment is another big
factor” in the inability of some homeowners to refinance, he said. — From news services
“Nearly every person who has a mortgage right now can benefit from refinancing. The problem is, many of them cannot due to an array of factors.”
— Bob Walters, chief economist, Quicken Loans
Homebuilder mergers loom as ‘elephant in room’ by John Gittelsohn
Homebuilder takeovers may increase as tumbling demand for new houses and a faltering U.S. economic recovery spur compa- nies to consolidate to gain mar- ket share, according to Citigroup. Ryland Group, Meritage
Homes and Beazer Homes USA are the most likely acquisition targets, Josh Levin, a New York- based analyst, wrote in a note to clients this week. D.R. Horton, KB Home, MDC Holdings and PulteGroup would be probable buyers, he said.
“We view consolidation as the proverbial elephant in the room,” Levin wrote. “Management teams are not discussing the is- sue publicly, but we would be sur- prised if at least some of them were not talking about it pri- vately.” New home sales have plunged
after the expiration of a tax credit of as much as $8,000 for buyers who signed contracts by April 30. Work began on 546,000 houses at an annual rate last month, fewer than analysts estimated, accord- ing to Commerce Department data released this week. Building permits fell to an annual pace of
Tis chart is designed to show trends of some of the more common indexes used to set the rates on adjustable mortgages. Borrowers facing adjustments can use the numbers below to figure their new rate, assuming no caps or other special limitations. Data on 30-year, fixed-rate loans are included for reference.
Adjustable-rate-mortgage indexes MONTHLY AVERAGES
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SOURCES: Freddie Mac, Federal Reserve, Federal Housing Finance Agency % FHFA mortgage rate
30-year, fixed- rate mortgages
565,000, the lowest rate since May of last year. The broader economy “has de-
teriorated markedly” and pros- pects for takeovers will increase if job creation worsens, Levin wrote. The jobless rate was 9.5 percent last month. The last major takeover in the homebuilding industry was Pulte’s acquisition of Centex, completed last August for $3.28 billion. That deal helped Pulte slash its cost of sales and admin- istration, “making the case that increased size can generate cost savings,” Levin wrote.
— Bloomberg News
5-year Treasury issues 3-year Treasury issues
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O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J 2008 2009
2010 THE WASHINGTON POST
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