Photo by ASurroca on Flickr.

Housing prices in Virginia increase by 0.8% in 2011, but over in Maryland they dropped 3.6%, Bloomberg reports. Reader Matt asks, why?

Bloomberg quotes consultant Thomas Lawler, who blames differing foreclosure practices, and the article’s lede compares the Maryland and Virginia suburbs directly, claiming they’re “a lot alike.”

Coming just after a post about reporters misusing statistics, this one seems to be quite a stretch. The numbers appear not to compare Virginia and Maryland suburbs directly, but rather the entire states. So is the difference Bethesda versus McLean, or Baltimore versus Richmond, or Salisbury versus Blacksburg?

Matt writes,

This article says that the housing markets in Virginia and Maryland are the same, and that the only difference between then is the strength of foreclosure protection laws. I don’t believe that is true.

It’s my sense that Virginia has more defense contractors and Maryland has more federal government workers. What other characteristics of the housing market are different between the two states?

What do you think might be the reason for the discrepancy?

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.