Taking a fall

As the housing market rights itself, average prices don't tell the whole story

Two years ago, Knight said, buyers went up to, and in some cases, beyond their budget. Now they're more prudent, often looking for houses below what their banks have told them they qualify for.

Lucy Sarris, a real estate agent with the Towson South office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, says the average sales price in the Towson area will put you in either an older, single-family home or a newer attached unit.

"Real estate literally goes neighborhood by neighborhood," said Sarris. "In Baltimore, you can have a neighborhood that sells in the $300,000 range right next to one that sells in the $600,000 to $800,000 range."

That's why Allie Mitchell, a real estate agent with Long and Foster's Columbia/Fulton office, only uses average sales price as a marker: something to compare house prices against when shopping for a buyer or setting a price for a seller.

But in today's market, she said, it's not an exact science.

"The average sales price takes in a wide variety," said Mitchell. "Being a former engineer, I always arm myself with data whether it's for the buyer or seller. We would have to file through what's out there and then literally start hitting the streets."

Baltimore Sun reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins contributed to this report.