Despite the COVID19 pandemic, the sales market for Worcester County, Maryland, was amazingly hot during the summer, fall and winter in 2020. In fact, so much so, that I, and many others, felt it was inevitable the market would turn around from a Sellerโs market to a strong Buyerโs market by the fall.
That misled view of the market was considered to be the future of our sales market, due to the limited number of vacationers. The poor performance of the rental season resulted in substantially reduced expected income for many resort property, and businesses. It was believed this would cause financial stress for many of those Owners.
The lack of Renters, during the summer, occurred due to the lock downs and quarantines enforced during the pandemic. It seemed, therefore, the market would become saturated with properties at the end of the season from those Owners that had suffered huge losses. It was erroneously predicted that those units would become a burden for those relying on that rental income, forcing those owners to sell.
Even though a number of those properties did, in fact, hit the sales market, surprisingly, the active units did not slow the market. The sales continued to sky rocket anyway.
Buyers have been quickly snapping up properties as soon as they showed on the active market. Many units have been placed under contract within 24 hours of the list date!
In recent months it has become common place for a listing agent to receive several offers on a particular listing at the same time. This creates a bidding war among hopeful Purchasers.
Available properties, at this time, are so scarce that agents watch the market daily for new incoming listings for their Buyers. A number of Buyers have placed offers based merely on photos and/or videos or simply on their Agents recommendation. A few others bought property, sight unseen and without recommendation.
The cause for this sense of expediency has been the fast-moving market. Often, by the time a potential Buyer arrives to inspect a property of interest, they have found the unit to be already under contract.
The market is motivated by the extremely low interest rates being offered at this time, providing more buying power, expanding affordability for more real properties purchases.
Currently, as of February 13, 2021, there are only 289 properties for sale (excluding time shares), in all of Worcester County. The least expensive is 600 Cedar Street in Pocomoke for $30,000 and the most expensive is 9750 Marthaโs Landing for $12,900,000.
The breakdown of these available properties are as follows:
187 of those available listings are located in the Town of Ocean City.
40 of the properties are in the Town of Berlin.
11 are located in Snow Hill
13 in Ocean Pines
30 available in Pocomoke City
6 in Bishopville
1 in Gridletree
1 in Showell
Our market in Worcester County is desperate for new listings, especially in demand are ocean front properties.
If you have an interest in selling your land, home or condo, the timing is now. It is uncertain how long the interest rates will remain low, or this sellerโs market will continue, but for nowโฆ.itโs a great time to sell. Contact your local REALTOR for an analysis on the value of your specific property.
