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Reggie Salliey of Baltimore, right, listens to salesmen Mike Parks discuss differences in televisions at the Big Screen Store in Towson. – Patrick Smith/For The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - While the U.S. gross domestic product increased 0.9 percent in the first quarter and staved off some fears of national recession in 2009, in the Baltimore area, April was another rough month for Realtors and retailers, while employers and employees have reason to be upbeat.
HOME SALE PRICES DOWN
Since the residential real estate slide began last fall, April was the first month the city and its five surrounding counties all reported declines in median sale prices, according to data gathered by the Realtor-owned Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.
Carroll County reported the largest drop, down 11.8 percent to $288,675, while Baltimore City prices fell the least, down 2.4 percent to $155,000.
The number of units sold in the Baltimore region in April dropped by more than 31 percent from the same period in 2007.
But local real estate agents called the price drops an ongoing correction in the market, and said interest in listings and traffic at open houses have both improved throughout the spring.
National home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, according to the Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller national index released Tuesday. But the index, which does not include Baltimore among the cities it tracks, is still up 60 percent from 2000, according to Jody Landers, executive vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.
“It would be hard to find another investment that’s up [60 percent] since 2000,” he said. “Within these markets you’re going to find variations. You’re not going to find all of Portland, all of Dallas, all of Cleveland experiencing the same declines. It’s hard to extrapolate these numbers nationwide.”
RETAIL SALES SINK
Retailers at this point must count on consumers using those stimulus checks.
According to data from the Maryland comptroller’s office, the state’s retail sales tax receipts declined about 6 percent in April from the year before, roughly similar to the drop for December sales when retailers struggled through one of the worst holiday shopping seasons in recent memory.
The two declines are among the largest month-over-month decreases since at least fiscal 1982, according to the Comptroller’s office.
“The sales tax was substantially below expectations for the month — baseline revenues were expected to be flat — and recent trends are troubling,” Comptroller Peter Franchot wrote in a recent memo on April sales numbers.
UNEMPLOYMENT DIPS
The silver lining might be the Baltimore area’s employment situation, as job growth fuels business and consumer spending.
The Baltimore-Towson unemployment rate dipped to 3.6 percent in April from 3.8 percent in March, according to preliminary data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maryland’s unemployment also dropped to 3.5 percent in April from 3.7 percent in March.
The national unemployment rate in April was 4.8 percent, according to BLS data.
The region’s technology sector continue to be a major area for employment growth, according to The Dice Report, the leading career Web site for technology and engineering professionals.
For the month of May, the Baltimore-Washington area ranked as the No. 2 “top tech metro area” in the nation with about 7,400 tech jobs advertised in the region. The area placed behind the New York-New Jersey region but ahead of areas like Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Chicago.
“IT professionals in the Baltimore-Washington area certainly are faring very well,” said Tom Silver, senior vice president of marketing and customer support for The Dice Report.
BUSINESS OUTLOOK
It might not be an official recession, but top forecasters at the National Association for Business Economics predict the economy will slow to a near crawl of a 0.4 percent growth rate during the April-to-June period.
Growth should pick up to a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter, energized by the Fed’s powerful series of rate reductions and billions of dollars worth of tax rebates from the government.
However, 56 percent of NABE forecasters believe a recession has already begun or will develop this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
acannarsa@baltimoreexaminer.com
acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
7:36 PM MST on Thu., Jan. 17, 2008 re: "Analyst: Fed will prevent recession"
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Examiner Reader said:
The Fed helped cause the problem by keeping interest rates so low that financial institutions borrowed and gambled like crack addicts. Near rock bottom interest rates caused losses to consumers interested in saving their cash in bank accounts for a rainy day, and encouraged banks to lend riskier loans to those who couldn't afford them. Bernanke's testimony is never honest, he parses his words way too carefully, and contradicts himself during his hearings in congress. I am beginning to think you can be a total idiot and be a Harvard or Yale economist that politicians hold in high regard. The mere notion of "supply side economics" is pure B.S. and a con to the average hard working middle-class person. These e-con-artists try to dupe you into thinking tax cuts for businesses spur job growth. It's a con to keep Congress from raising taxes at the highest income levels to avoid budget deficits, but those folks have the power to keep it from happening. Go back to the 39% bracket!
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