Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Home prices: Everything is relative

I've written several posts on this blog about real estate, especially in Montgomery and Howard counties, where many homes are high-ticket items.

One of my morning email alerts pointed me to Housing Tracker, a site that estimates the inventory of homes available in major cities. It also breaks down median sales prices and shows the prices in the 25th and 75th percentile.

According to the site, there are 11,994 homes available in Baltimore (everywhere from Aberdeen to Arbutus to Ellicott City) at the moment, for a median price of $249,900. The 25th percentile is $159,999; the 75th is $359,997.

In Washington, the inventory's similar (12,805) but the 25th percentile is significantly higher - $300,000. The median jumps to $399,950, and the 75th percentile is $569,000. That means a quarter of homes in the Washington region cost more than $570,000.

If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

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