With 2012 quickly drawing to a close, home prices in Odenton’s Chapel Grove neighborhood appear to have stabilized, although fewer homes will sell in the community this year.

With less than a month left in the year and most housing purchases taking more than 30 days to close, it’s unlikely any of the four remaining Chapel Grove homes currently on the market will be sold before 2012 expires. We can say, then, that average home prices for Chapel Grove will most likely finish up 6 percent over 2011.

A closer look at the numbers, however, shows that average prices for Chapel Grove town homes are down about 1 percent from last year while average prices for detached homes are almost identical. The 6 percent increase stems from the fact that fewer town homes sold in Chapel Grove this year, meaning sales of the community’s more expensive single family homes raised the average home price. 

Although the number of homes sold in Chapel Grove will be lower this year, there are positive signs for the community’s homeowners. For one, after years of dramatic price declines, Chapel Grove home prices appear to have bottomed, at least for the present. Plus, the number of foreclosures and potential short sales in the community appears to have calmed.

Also from a sales perspective, Chapel Grove homeowners continue to get a very healthy portion of the asking price for their properties. Sellers of Chapel Grove town homes got an average 98 percent of their asking price this year, while owners of Chapel Grove detached properties got an average 95 percent of their asking price.

These percentages are considerably greater than what homeowners typically get in other Odenton communities and greater than in most sections of Gambrills, Crofton and Severn.

Some of the Chapel Grove sales numbers do cause concern, however. Homes sold there this year stayed on the market an average 32 days longer than last year. Chapel Grove town homes in particular suffered this chill, extending their stay on the market an average 50 days more than last year and 82 days longer than in 2010.

Currently, there are four homes for sale in Chapel Grove, all single family detached properties. The average asking price for the four homes in $646,000. 

Jerry Kline is a Realtor with the Odenton, Md., office of Keller Williams Flagship Realty (1216 Annapolis Rd., Odenton.) For more information on the local real estate market, contact him at (443) 924-7418, or visit his blog (www.JerryKlineRealtor.wordpress.com) or website (www.JerryKline.kwrealty.com).