Montgomery County Real Estate 2009 Year in Review

We’re already three days into 2010, but it’s not too late for a quick review of the Montgomery County’s real estate market for 2009.  Although I wouldn’t call today’s market “normal”, our market definitely stabilized this year.  Here’s some interesting stats for the year.

Most expensive sale in Montgomery County

9109 Harrington Drive PotomacAccording to our MLS, 9109 Harrington Drive in Potomac was the most expensive home sold in Montgomery County closing for $7,810,000.  This Bradley Farms home featured 10 bedrooms, 11 full baths, an elegant interior and nearly 7 acres.  It was originally priced at $11.8M when it entered the market in February, 2009.  The home was listed with Washington Fine Properties.

Most expensive sale in the Metro D.C. area

211 chain bridge road mclean211 Chain Bridge Road in McLean, Virginia sold in February for $16,000,000.  This cozy cottage was completed in 2008, overlooks the Potomac River and features over 25,000 square feet of living space including 8 bedrooms, 9 full baths, 5 half baths, 5 car garage, indoor pool, indoor basketball court and elegant spaces for stylish entertaining. This custom estate was purchased by the Embassy of the State of Qatar.

Least expensive home sold in Montgomery County

Montgomery County TrailerMontgomery County has only a few mobile homes.  When 19515 Frederick Road #191 in Germantown sold for $22,900 in July, it became the lowest priced sale for the entire County.  Buying a home under $100,000 was unheard of a few years ago.  In 2009, 245 homes sold for $100,000 or less.  Our area is known for its high housing costs.  In 2009, 72% of all homes were sold for $500,000 or less:

2010 01 Price Ranges2

Number of Sales over $2M

The market for upper bracket homes was soft in 2009 with 64 homes selling for over $2M.  With 103 homes available for sale, there’s currently over 1 year and 7 month’s inventory.  Looking at the last ten years, 2009′s sales were less than half sold during the market’s peak in 2006.  The graph below shows all resales and does not include many new homes constructed during this period which I roughly estimate to be around 400 homes.

2010 01 2M Sales 2

Most popular zip codes

Sales in the following 10 zip codes made up over 52% of the sales for the entire county.  Here’s a summary of each zip with the number of homes sold in 2009:

2010 01 Popular Zips2

Zip codes with the highest sales volume

Sales volume is the product of the sales price and transaction volume.  Montgomery County had over $4.4 billion in 2009 sales.   Nearly 60% of the sales took place in the following 10 zip codes:

2010 01 Popular Zip Volume

Zip codes with the hottest sellers markets

This is a measure of the area with the lowest inventory which is simply the number of homes available divided by the number of homes sold.  This isn’t the definitive measure of an area’s real estate market.  Looking at homes within an area and price range is a much better measure.  Still, here’s 10 zip codes with the lowest inventory.

Zip Code Sold Available Inventory
20851 Rockville 153 19 1.5 months
20877 Gaithersburg 346 55 1.9 months
20879 Gaithersburg 378 62 2.0 months
20814 Bethesda 346 57 2.0 months
20855 Derwood 140 24 2.1 months
20876 Germantown 296 53 2.1 months
20874 Germantown 806 152 2.3 months
20816 Bethesda 233 44 2.3 months
20878 Gaithersburg 650 126 2.3 months
20886 Montgomery Village 494 97 2.4 months

Zip codes with the hottest buyers markets

The higher the inventory, the bigger selection for homes buyers.  Here’s the top 10 zip codes with the highest inventory in Montgomery County.

Zip Code Sold Available Inventory
20837 Poolesville 46 23 6.0 months
20882 Gaithersburg 109 54 5.9 months
20833 Brookeville 48 19 4.8 months
20866 Burtonsville 140 53 4.5 months
20906 Silver Spring 785 296 4.5 months
20872 Damascus 132 48 4.4 months
20871 Clarksburg 184 64 4.2 months
20854 Potomac 459 151 3.9 months
20905 Silver Spring 144 47 3.9 months
20815 Chevy Chase 327 96 3.5 months

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We love looking at statistics.  Let us know if you have any questions about the real estate market in Montgomery County, Maryland. Signup for our monthly newsletter and keep track of the 2010 real estate market.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux

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