This past year in real estate proved to deliver more pent-up supply and demand, with continued elevated mortgage rates — despite two Federal Reserve (Fed) rate reductions. And, once again, prices continued to rise, albeit at a slower rate. Here’s an “at a glance” recap of some of the various market stats for Worcester County (no data for December 2024 is included in these figures).
• The average sales prices varied monthly throughout the year, but October had the highest sales price average increase year over year for Worcester County at a 23.1% increase and a $596.242 sales price average in 2024. November was the only month that did not show an increase in sales price average, and it was even with 2021. The lowest sales price average reported in 2024 was for the month of January at $402,857 (in 2023, January was also the lowest sales price average month at $436,082).
• The months of inventory reported figure for November 2024 showed Worcester County was at 3.8 months, compared to the same time in 2023 where the months of inventory average was 3.3. At the end of 2022, statistics showed we were sitting at 1.6 months, so we have more than doubled our inventory since then.
• For the month of November, in 2023 there were 527 active listings but this November 2024 showed 610 units of active inventory. This is compared to the beginning of the year, where January showed only 458 active units.
• For the month of November, inventory remained limited at 141 new listings in 2024, a decline over November 2023, which saw 172 new listings.
• As of the first week in 2024, there are 74 direct oceanfront listings, an increase over last year’s 57 direct oceanfront total units actively listed.
• The luxury market saw 85 homes selling over the $1 million dollar mark in 2023, and 2024 posted a similar number at 89 luxury homes sold.
• The highest priced sale in Worcester County in 2024 was for a single-family waterfront home in West Ocean City which sold for $8,600,000 (that particular home had been on the market since 2020 and started at over $15 million). The highest priced sale in Worcester County in 2023 was for $6,100,000, also located in West Ocean City.
• At the end of 2023, there were 14 homes listed under the $400,000 price mark in Ocean Pines. In the first week of 2025, there are now 20 homes available for sale under the $400K mark.
• In 2021 Worcester County saw 82 new construction units sold; in 2022, it increased to 123 new construction units sold with the same amount sold in 2023. In 2024, new construction jumped to 181 units sold in the MLS with an average price of $536,580.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
