‘Affordability is just not there’

By CAMERON ADAMS

cadams@newspost.com

Part 1 of a two-part series looking at housing affordability in Frederick County.

Tom Brady thought he was ready to buy his first home.

The Middletown High School graduate had a good job in IT with Xecunet out of Ballenger Creek and had saved money for his own place by living at his parents’ home.

In 2022, Brady hired Kelly Losquadro, a real estate agent with Long and Foster, to help locate the perfect starter home.

Losquadro said Brady is a “saver” who “is very, very budget conscious, which I was so impressed by.”

Brady said location was a big factor, wanting to be close to downtown Frederick and work, but having enough space and modern appliances, including an in-unit washer and dryer, were also on the checklist.

The two looked all over Frederick County, including downtown Frederick, Middletown, Jefferson, New Market and Lake Linganore.

They grew close as the search entered a second year.

“Kelly’s great,” Brady said. “I honestly don’t think I can imagine going through this process without someone like Kelly around because she was incredibly helpful and super patient with me because this dragged out longer than I thought it would.”

Losquadro said Brady was “the son I never had” and used to joke about him sharing a name with the six-time Super Bowl winner and 2012’s Business Insider’s Sexiest Athlete Alive.

She said, she used to tell her husband, “I’m going out with Tom Brady tonight.”

Two and a half years into the search, Brady, now 33, still lived with his parents.

While Losquadro spoke glowingly of Brady as a person, she said his story was not unique in a market she called “crazy.”

“I could tell this story over and over,” she said. “The affordability is just not there.”

SUPPLY AND DEMAND Experts agree that while housing in Frederick is generally strong, supply has not matched demand for lower-priced homes, mirroring trends throughout the state and region.

Housing data compiled by MarketStats shows both the average and median prices increasing within Frederick County from December 2023 to December 2024.

Average sale prices increased 2.8%, to $515,899, in that time period, according to MarketStats data.

The state’s Department of Assessments and Taxation evaluates the value of taxable land for a third of the county each year, leading every property in the county to be reassessed on a triennial cycle. In the last three years, property values increased between 28.6% and 30.8%.

“The market is still strong,” said Kris Alcorn, a member of the Frederick County Association of Realtors and a broker with Re/MAX.

Alcorn added: “It’s definitely more of a seller’s market.”

She said the housing stock, or supply of various types of housing options, is lacking on the lower to middle end of the cost spectrum.

To illustrate this point, there were more houses that sold for less than $500,000 than there were active listings at the end of the month, according to MarketStats data.

Homes between $500,000 and $800,000 had about five listings for every four homes sold. Homes above $800,000 had almost three times as many listings as homes sold.

Hugh Gordon, chair of the Frederick County Affordable Housing Council and association executive of the Frederick County Association of Realtors, said it is hard for home buyers to buy at a higher or lower price as needed because “we don’t have much affordability here in Frederick.”

Gordon said young families looking to get more space or older residents looking to downsize do not have the kind of fluid range of options that he would characterize as being part of a healthy, competitive housing market.

Danielle Adams, executive offi- (See HOUSING A10)

New homes under construction are framed by a piece of cement pipe at Renn Quarter along Monocacy Boulevard.

Staff photo by Ric Dugan

(HOUSING from A1) cer with the Frederick County Building Industry Association, agreed with this assessment of the market.

“We are seeing a tremendous amount of need for all housing types, for all income levels, and in areas that provide public transportation,” Adams wrote in an emailed response to questions. “Our young adults cannot afford to live in our community and are either living with family or leaving all together, taking their spending dollars out of the county. We lack inventory that would make housing more affordable.”

Also, she said the market makes it harder for the older population to age in place.

In 2022, 29.3% of households in the county had at least one member 65 years or older, according to county records. Of those households, 32% — 9.4% of all households in the county — are made up entirely of an individual living alone who is at least 65 years old.

The United Way publishes data with three categories: the Federal Poverty Level, those above the ALICE line and those below.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed and tracks households that while having jobs cannot afford the basic cost of living in their county. The actual number for that line varies by household type.

The data say that of the 104,912 households in the county, 26% are between the poverty line and ALICE line. This group is often called working poor.

These figures are actually slightly better than the 29% ALICE households across the state as a whole.

Future housing needs

Maryland State Housing Secretary Jacob Day connected stable housing to economic well-being at an event in Frederick in October.

He said that while the state has experienced stagnant economic growth of 1.8% over the last eight years, Frederick County was not one of those stagnant parts.

Day said many parts of the state would “trade with [Frederick County] any day of the week, in terms of economic growth.”

Maryland has a housing shortage of 96,000 units, according to state records.

In order to meet expected population growth, Frederick County will need to increase its housing stock by 57,000 homes by 2050, according to a county forecast.

In the previous 25 years, 39,484 homes were built, according to county records.

However, to build 57,000 homes in 25 years, 2,280 would need to be built on average each year. Since 2019, the county has averaged 2,291 new homes.

During her State of the County remarks, County Executive Jessica Fitzwater said the housing shortage is a focus of her administration.

“For policy makers, this is a largescale problem,” Fitzwater said of the shortage. “For residents, it’s a much more personal challenge because long-time residents are concerned about staying in their homes and newer families are worried about how they will buy a house here.”

County Council Member Steve McKay said in an interview that housing is “a personal interest to me” due to having a 35-year-old son unable to find affordable housing in the county.

“He wants to live up here, but can’t afford to buy a house,” McKay said. “He had a house in Florida, sold it with a little bit of profit, but really can’t afford to buy anything up here. So I recognize and empathize with the issue.”

He added that recent trends further locked affordable housing seekers out of the market, that supply and demand did not line up.

“We had a booming supply through the pandemic years,” McKay said. “And that booming supply didn’t result in prices coming down — just the opposite.”

McKay proposed a moratorium bill that the County Council voted down 5-1 in 2024. It was an effort to limit new housing until the issue of overcrowding in schools was addressed.

The bill exempted smaller subdivisions, age-restricted housing and affordable or moderately priced housing as defined by the county code. That can include limiting the purchase of a house to those earning below set figures relative to county medians for income.

McKay said he included these carve-outs in an effort to improve the supply of affordable housing while also addressing school overcrowding.

Priced out

At a December meeting, Frederick City Council Member Donna Kuzemchak said many people are being priced out of living in Frederick.

“It’s harder for people to move here, for people to live here, for people to buy here. And every time the cost of your house goes up, your taxes go up,” she said.

Council Member Ben MacShane agreed that Frederick has become less affordable, saying property values have risen “dramatically.”

MacShane said that previously, the appeal of Frederick was that “even if it’s unaffordable to live here, it’s kind of worth it because we’re providing a lot,” but that was no longer a tenable position to residents.

Council Member Derek Shackelford emphasized the complexity of the housing market. He said he likes to support those “who are building — I don’t like to use the word affordable housing — but price appropriate housing, because that incorporates all of the residents of our community.”

According to a 2022 analysis, the median household income in the county for someone who owns their home was $135,090 while the median household income for a renter was $65,632, according to county records.

Given these differences, Livable Frederick’s look at housing in the county found that 19.5% of homeowners and 45.4% of renters were considered “cost-burdened.” That designation means that they spend 30% or more of their income on housing.

Experts said these problems will only grow as Frederick’s population grows.

Census data showed that between 2010 and 2020, Frederick County saw the highest percentage increase, growing by over 16%, compared to 9% and 12% for Prince George’s and Montgomery, respectively.

In response to that population increase, Adams wrote in an email, “Over the past few decades, Frederick County and its municipalities have not kept lockstep with the continuum of housing.”

Finding a home

Tom Brady’s story had a happy ending.

After over 30 months and several false starts with other places, including a near match on a unit in downtown Frederick, he and Losquadro found a place that fit his needs in Ballenger Creek.

Brady said having Losquadro and the Interfaith Housing Alliance helped him pay attention to the right details and know what questions to ask.

The duo managed to bid below asking on the unit, because Losquadro had noticed it was overpriced by an out-ofstate bank that had seized it on foreclosure.

On Sunday, Brady pointed to the sparse decorations, noting he was still in the process of moving in.

He said it will be an adjustment to live on his own for the first time and fill out the space that will house his future.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Brady said. “I’m excited.”

“It’s all about timing and strategy and all these things that come into play in this competitive, frustrating market,” Losquadro said. “All his hard work and perseverance paid off.”

Coming Saturday: Part 2 — What are some possible solutions?

Tom Brady checks his cellphone as he prepares to move into his condominium at Crestwood Village in Frederick. It took Brady and his real estate agent two and a half years to find an entry level house that fit his budget.

Staff photo by Ric Dugan