Looking to give up the inner suburbs for a little more open space? Prices certainly are more congenial if you head northwest of the local region and go Panhandle-ing.
In the 11 counties described by the Bright MLS multiple-listing service as the West Virginia/Maryland Panhandle area, the median home-listing price for the week ending July 28 at was $310,000. Though up 4.4 percent from a year before, that’s still well below the median $599,000 for the Washington region during the week.
The panhandle corridor includes eight West Virginia counties plus three (Allegany, Garrett and Washington) in Maryland.
Location helps determinie pricing there as elsewhere. Leading the pack was Jefferson County, W.Va. – closest to the Washington region – with a median listing price of $398,500. In Allegany County, the median listing price was just $184,900, lowest of the bunch.
As with the Washington region, summer brings a decline in buyer activity, which this year is even lower than in 2023. The 1,867 showings for the week in the panhandle region represented a decline of 9.8 percent from the commensurate period last year.
But there is more for prospective purchasers to look at, as the 1,431 listings are up 23.7 percent from a year before.
