| TOPIC AREA
Housing and Community Development INDICATOR: Median
number of days a house is on the market Why is this indicator
important in Baltimore City?
Median days on the market
is an indicator of demand to live in an area. The faster homes are sold, the more
demand.
What has been happening in Baltimore City?
Citywide, between 2000 and 2003, the median number of days a home stayed on the
market decreased 46 percent from 52 days to 28 days.
Definition:
This indicator reflects the median number of days it
takes to sell a home that was on the public market that falls in the middle between
the most days a property in that area is on the market, and the and least number
of days a property is on the market.
A house is technically "on
the market" from the date it is listed until the date the contract is signed
(not the sale date). Data for this indicator reflect only the properties listed
publicly (no private transactions are included).
Calculation
considerations:
Data for this indicator are entered
into the MRIS (typically known as the "multiple list" system) by real
estate agents "Flipped" properties and predatory lending does
not show up in the data used for this indicator, since usually these transactions
are not performed by real estate agents and therefore not listed on the public
market.
The median is used rather than average, because averages include
extremely high numbers of days to sell a home and extremely low numbers of days
to sell a home, which can distort the picture of what's really happening in the
area.
Data source: Maryland
Regional Information Systems (MRIS)
Analysis: Baltimore
Neighborhood Indicators Alliance staff
Years tracked:
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Geography: Citywide,
CSA, census tract
To access the Indicator: Download
Vital Signs 3 Activate
the interactive mapping system Obtain the
Vital Signs by census tract Download
Community Statistical Area profiles
For more information
about the Alliance and the Vital Signs, go to the website www.ubalt.edu/bnia.
To find out about your neighborhood, go to the
Vital Signs section.
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