Real Estate Market Update for Delmarva 3/1/2023

Ryan Haley with Atlantic Shores Sotheby's International Realty is coming to you with the March 1st, 2023 real estate market report for Delmarva. It's been an active first two months of the year. 

We've definitely seen, as a trend going back now almost for 12 weeks, an increase in the number of people making offers and getting their offers accepted, while at the same time, a decrease in our inventory, which is leading to some of the lowest months’ supply we've ever seen over the past 21 years. So it's definitely an interesting market.

We are seeing interest rates nationally that have kind of creeped back up again, but at the same time, we've got the spring market upon us and the summer season getting very close. So, it’s an interesting dynamic.

Worcester County, Maryland

Let’s start off with Worcester County, Maryland, home of Ocean City. We had 46 new listings in the last 7 days, 53 properties going under contract in that time, while we have 260 properties that are active and or coming soon for the entire county. In the last 30 days, we've sold 176 properties, so that gives us 1.48 months’ supply in Worcester County, Maryland.

Sussex County, Delaware

Going to Sussex County, Delaware, the largest county on Delmarva. We had 122 new properties come on the market in the last seven days, while we had 188 properties go under contract. There were 1,176 properties active in the county. That's the first time we've seen this go under 1,200 actives in Sussex County for quite some time. So there were 1,176 properties for sale, but keep in mind that a good portion of that is new construction, while we had 503 go under contract here in the last 30 days, which gives us 2.3 months’ supply. That keeps coming down.

Wicomico County, Maryland

Finally, rounding out Delmarva here with Wicomico County. Wicomico County is the only county that we've seen where we actually are adding some inventory. 

We had 42 new properties come on the market. Basically, we only had 30 go under contract. There were 152 total actives in Wicomico County, 90 pending in the last 30 days, giving us 1.7 months’ supply. So actually, Wicomico's got the largest amount to choose from right now.

So if you are a buyer who's actually looking for a primary residence, which we see more of in the Salisbury area, or an investor trying to purchase a property that could be a good rental for you, you have a few more options over there in Wicomico County.

As I mentioned, we've seen the increase in interest rates over the last four weeks. They've continued to tick up just under 7% for a 30-year fixed mortgage right now. Still lots of opportunities, still a very interesting market, and we would love to chat with you.

In Closing

This is just what's going on in our area here, but what about your specific goals? Typically, real estate transactions happen based on life events. Whether you're upsizing, downsizing, getting married, divorce, unfortunately death, diapers and diamonds. It seems like those are the triggers that real estate transactions happen, and those life events don't necessarily happen when the market's up, parts down. 

So, you have to navigate through the current market if you're having life events and/or you're at a point in time where you've got the extra funds and you want to get that beach house. 

So let's have a conversation. Let's find out what works best with your goals, and we're here to help you in any way that we can, whether buying or selling.