County home sales fall 27% in August

The Anne Arundel real estate slowdown dragged on in August, with the number of homes sold dropping 27 percent from this time last year.

But industry experts said the recent federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could help to boost sales here, or at least stop them from falling.

The government’s move to save the mortgage companies from failure is “reassuring for everybody,” said Tom Quattlebaum, chief executive officer of the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors. “But the activity is still depressed by uncertainty in the economy.”

The number of county homes sold in August was 433 down from 594 in August 2007, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., a Rockville-based listing service. August was the eighth straight month of double-digit home sales drops this year.

Meanwhile, prices here remained relatively stable.

The median sale price for a home sold in the county last month was $325,000, a 2.9 percent drop from the $335,000 median price from a year ago for the same month, according to MRIS data.

But Mr. Quattlebaum said home prices have been on a gradual decrease from their highs in 2005.

“We’re down some places anywhere from 10 to 15 percent,” he said.

Despite this, Anne Arundel County is doing better price-wise than other parts of the country such as southern California, Las Vegas and Florida, said Robert Dye, senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group headquartered in Pittsburgh.

Prices aren’t depreciating as much in the Baltimore region, which is benefitting from an influx of military personnel as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, also known as BRAC, he said.

Mr. Dye said the federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could boost home-buying as interest rates drop.

Already, rates are decreasing. According to Freddie Mac, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.93 percent last week, down from an average 6.35 percent the week before.

George Matthews, owner of A-1 Mortgage in Annapolis, said people are already calling to refinance to more favorable terms.

“They are guessing that we are not going to see these rates again and they don’t want to be left on the sidelines,” he said.

However, Mr. Matthews said lender guidelines remain strict.

“If you don’t have good (credit) scores, you’re left on the sidelines,” he said.Mr. Matthews said he knows of a person who can’t move to a new home because he can’t quality for another loan.

At the same time, those who want to move on to the next house don’t have anyone to buy the one they currently live in. And those who purchased homes during the height of the market don’t have any equity or money to buy a new home, he said.“We have this logjam right now,” Mr. Matthews said.

———karcieri@capitalgazette.com