Ibi Sofillas

We had a great Chamber meeting yesterday at the Clarksburg Ombudsman's Building in Clarksburg, Maryland. There were about 20 professional in attendance to meet one another. We will be having monthly business card exchanges and quarterly meetings. If you are interested in the Clarksburg Chamber, or know of anyone who may be, please feel free to contact me through www.ClarksburgLovelyHomes.com.

The total dollar volume of homes sold in Clarksburg, MD was $3,758,144 in January 2009, which is up 29.08 percent compared to January 2008.

The median sold price was $464,000, an increase of 0.99 percent compared to January of last year, and the number of homes sold was up 50 percent during that same time frame.

The number of days that a home stayed on the market before selling averaged 136 days -- down 11.69 percent compared to last year.

That was the big debate among economists attending the recent Maryland Bankers Association forum held at the BWI Westing in Linthicum, MD.

The VP and regional economist for M&T Bank Corp, Gary Keith, expects Maryland's real gross domestic product to rise by 0.5 percent in 2009, compared to the nationwide predicted drop of 1.4 percent this year.

And the chief economist at SunTrust Banks, Gregory Miller, noted that Maryland added 13,000 jobs in the past year, even as there was a nationwide loss of 2.6 million jobs.

But, Maryland's unemployment *rate* increased from 3.6 percent in 2007 to 5.3 percent by November 2008 according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This leads Anirban Basu of Sage Policy Group to assert that Maryland really is in a recession, despite the positive indicators cited by the other economists.

The one area is which the economists did agree was that the Department of Defense's base realignment program will have a positive effect on the Maryland economy. This will bring an influx of jobs, and there will be new construction around Fort Meade and the Aberdeen Proving Ground.

So, stay tuned....

For December, the average sold price of a home in Clarksburg, MD was $511,042, which is down by 4.79 percent compared to December 2007.

The total number of homes sold in our zip code was identical to last year, and the average days on the market was up slightly (by 2.61 percent).

So, as you might have surmised, homes are taking a bit longer to sell compared to last year.

The audited year-end statistics will be available in mid-February, and I'll be sure to provide that information the moment it hits.