Housing Market Moving Ahead Slowly In Howard County: Report

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — While housing prices increased in February 2024, a limited supply of available houses resulted in a slow-moving market, according to the Howard County Association of Realtors.

In the February 2024 housing report released by HCAR this week, data indicates the home market continues to move ahead slowly. According to HCAR, in February 2024, the median sold price for residential homes in Howard County was $552,500, representing an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the previous month and an increase of 10.5 percent from February 2023.

As reported by the Bright MLS T3 Home Demand Index (HDI), the index for Howard County in February 2024 rose to 107, indicating steady conditions from the slow conditions of January 2024.

Typically, a market with between four and five months of supply indicates a balanced housing market, HCAR reported. Currently, there is 0.72 months of supply in Howard County which is 19.4 percent higher than a year ago (0.61). The months-of-supply metric is based on average sales activity during the past 12 months.

New listings were up five percent (232) from last year (221) and up 13.2 percent from the previous month (205). The average days on market for units sold was 21 days, which is a 12.5 percent decrease from the same time last year (26) and 23 percent below the five-year February average of 24 days.

Active listings in Howard County were down 2.9 percent (202) compared to the previous year (208). Closed sales (194) saw a 2.1 percent increase compared to the previous year (190) and a 25.2 percent increase compared to the previous month (155).

There was a 17.2 percent month-over-month (MoM) increase in new contract activity with 252 new pendings; a 17.9 percent MoM increase in all pendings (new contracts + contracts carried over from January) to 343; and a 3.6 percent increase in supply to 202 active units. This activity resulted in a contract ratio of 1.70 pendings per active listing, up from 1.49 in January 2024 and a decrease from 1.71 in February 2023. The contract ratio is 17 percent lower than the five-year February average of 2.05.