Baltimore Homes Price Down, Rentals Up

Real estate homes in Baltimore, Maryland plunges to nearly 7 percent in June, considered the lowest level during the seven-month period where the adjusted annual rate is around 482,000.

Optimistically speaking, this sales level is still 18 percent above last year's statistics.

The U.S. Census reporeted sales level going down in the West, Midwest and South but made a leap of about 28 percent in the Northeast as compared with May.

May started with a median sale of $281,800 which is up a little but still below the amount of median sales price acquired in June 2014.

The dramatic increase in foreclosure sales triggered house prices to dive. CoreLogic deputy chief economist Sam Khater revealed that the 13.6% of all May transactions in Baltimore came from foreclosures which are real estate owned (REO).

Maryland is non-judiciary state where judges need not approve foreclosures. However, it has set up a program to delay foreclosures by giving homeowners a chance to settle their debts to prevent re-possession of their property.

The boom in REO practice indicates stalled foreclosures that move its way to the system. Khater also added that inventories on foreclosures actually went down year-over-year in May and employment rate has risen slightly in the Charm City.

Out of the top 100 metro areas by population, 93 saw home price gains. Even if there was a huge drop in oil prices, the Dallas-Plano-Irving area have seen 8.6% gain while the areas in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land will have a gain of 7.4%.

As prices for selling houses go down for homeowners, it is quite the opposite for renters. A large number of renters are more cost burdened because of their housing expenditures including the rise in rents.

In a report by Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies that almost 39.6 million households spent 30% or more of their income on housing, which is less from 40.9 million in 2012 and reached a peak of 42.7 million in 2010.