All right everyone, this April/May Maryland market report is going to cover Prince Georges County, in part. One of the things that i really like about Prince Georges County is that it has the largest population of affluent African Americans in the country. Plus, it is a massive county and covers so much territory. With all of that territory comes a slew of diversity, there’s every type of home and homeowner and in every type of income bracket.

Let’s get into what values look like across Capitol Heights, Maryland – a neighborhood in Prince George’s County. Below, we’ll look at Capitol Heights market trends, globally, for the last month, 12-, 24-, and 36-months. From there, I look specifically at properties that sold in the last 180 days. The data from that analysis makes up the rest of the discussion on home sells, days on market, sold price, original and current price, and seller concessions.

Capitol Heights

A suburban community of the Washington DC region we have Capitol Heights. Capitol Heights offers close proximity to the DC region while avoiding what many considered to be the astronomical price for owning a home In Washington DC. Through April 30th the median home value for Capitol Heights is 261,000 over the last month, they’ve seen almost a 0.5% increase in home values. Over the last 12 months the community has seen a 3.82% increase in home values, or just under $10,000 in appreciation. These homes continue to appreciate in value based on the median home price and year over year increases. Namely, over the last 24 months, Capitol Heights has seen a median value increase of almost $31,000. It gets better, over the last 36 months homes have appreciated nearly $47,000, or 18%. This is just the median estimated value.

 Home Sells

Homes continue to sell in Capitol Heights like TP off the shelves. For the last 180 days, there have been 262 properties (as of May 21, 2020) that have been sold for a total sell price of $63.6 million. Capitol Heights proper has seen the most sold property at 48 followed by London Woods. The London Woods subdivision has sold 15 properties totaling $3.5 million. For these same homes, the average days on the market has been about 32 days. Seat Pleasant and Gregory Estates have average days on the market of 3.3 and 4 days respectively. However, sells, by volume were low in Seat Pleasant at three; the three homes that sold did so in 0, 3, and 7 days

Days on Market

This is a great transition to the days on market, or how long did a property remain on the market to sell until it went under contract. For all 262 properties, the average days on market was 32 days with the median being 21 days. The cool comparison here is that the median is close to the average and confirms, despite properties that are on the marker over 32 days, of the list of all the properties and how long they were on the market, 21 days is the number in the middle of the pack and supports the average that much more. For the 262 properties sold, the longest sat on the market for 216 days.

 Sold Price

The sold price is what a buyer is willing to pay for a property. To me, buying a house is the best personification of one of my favorite phrases, “the price is written in ink, not stone”. With that said, $63.6 million has been sold. The highest priced home in the data set was priced at 512,000 with a median price of $250,000 – again the number that’s in the middle of the pack. If you’re keeping track, you’ll see that this median price isn’t far from the estimated home values discussed earlier. In that same vein, the mean (average) price for homes sold in Capitol Heights was $242,663.09 based on homes sold in the last 180 days.

Original Sell Price

This metric is interesting because a home may start out at one price and is later reduced, due to negotiation or time on the market or the buyer pays above asking. For the last 180 days, sellers listed their homes for a total of $65,516,120 and adjusted the priced down by $1.29 million dollars. The max above the listing price that was paid for a property was $59,900 and some savvy negotiator was able to talk a property down in price be $74,000.

Current Price

The current price is the price the property is adjusted to by the seller for some reason or another. Typically, the current price does not reflect any bidding or negotiating; more specifically, this is driven by days on the market. The longer a property is on the market, the greater the chance the seller will reduce the price. The maximum adjusted list price was $529,900 for a property in Capitol Heights. Sold properties, in the last 180 days, have averaged $245,147.

 Seller concession

Often buyers need or want a little assistance with their closing costs and down payment, and sellers can offer a seller concession to assist with filling that gap. Seller concessions are funds that are granted to the buyer, typically up to three (3) percent, and applied to the loan. This amount aids the buyers with obtaining the home and fulfilling their financial obligation for the transaction. For Capitol Heights, and the subdivision therein, the average seller concession was $7,328.07 with the largest sum given of $13,800. These figures represent 70 percent – 183 properties – of all the homes that sold in Capitol Heights, which is a good indicator to buyers that additional assistance – beyond down payment programs – is available to fill the financial gap to homeownership.

Home sells continue despite Covid-19, this means buyers want to buy and sellers want to sell. The opportunity exists for many that are still gainfully employed, during this time, to take advantage of mortgage rates and the demand from sellers but limited competition. This time of year is the prime home selling/buying season. Many people are still uncertain and, buyer or seller, will delay their decision to act. There is no right or wrong answer, but life will continue to go on and there’s no time like the present to take advance of your homes’ appreciation.

 

Brandon Scott is a licensed real estate agent in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. His license hangs with Coldwell Banker Dupont-Logan, DC. He’s been involved in the mortgage finance industry for the last 16 years in various fields. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Subscribe to his YouTube Channel at RealTea DMV.