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Triangle REview: Spring is here! Finally! Main Photo

Triangle REview: Spring is here! Finally!


Check out our Real Estate Review on how the Triangle market is performing.
Posted: March 26, 2019 by Bryan Selser

March Madness is rolling! Not just in basketball but in real estate as this month is traditionally the start of the spring buying and selling season.

Nationally it appears that this year things got heated up a bit earlier than normal. The National Association of Realtors just announced its monthly Existing Home Sales Report that found home sales jumped 11.8% in February from January. This was the largest month-to-month increase since December of 2015.

Nationally the number of homes for sales (inventory) is 1.62 million, a low 3.5 month supply that is far below what is termed a “balanced market.” Lower than 6-months, the seller is thought to have an advantage in negotiations while a “buyers’ market” is higher than 6 months.

The low levels of available homes has driven prices higher. The current median price (the exact middle of the list of February homes sold) is $249,500, a 3.6% increase over last year.

NAR reports that the South remains about the same in sales levels while prices jumped by 2.5% to a median price of $219,300.

Getting even closer to home, we looked at the Triangle MLS numbers and found that our region mirrored the national scene as our 2,585 region-wide February sales were 13.2% higher than last year. The median home price was up 2.3% to $266,000.

Yet our inventory challenge is significantly greater than elsewhere. Overall, we have just a 2.2 month supply, but things differ when looking at the type of home you might be interested in. Clearly, demand far outpaces supply and those who are considering selling their home should talk to a trusted real estate professional.

Property Type

Month Supply

Change compared to Feb. 2018

Single family $137,000-$199,999

1.1

-21.4%

Single family $199,000-$308,999

1.7

Unchanged

Single family $308,000

3.3

-5.7%

Single family 2 bedrooms

3.1

6.9%

Single family 3 bedrooms

1.8

-5.3%

Single family 4 bedrooms

3.0

Unchanged

Townhouse/Condo $137,000-$199,999

0.4

-33.3%

Townhouse/Condo $199,000-$308,999

1.5

Unchanged

Townhouse/Condo $308,000

3.8

-2.6%

Townhouse/Condo 2 bedrooms

1.1

10.0%

Townhouse/Condo 3 bedrooms

1.7

13.3%

Townhouse/Condo 4 bedrooms

2.8

12.0%



Now let’s zoom in even closer to some of the more notable communities in the Triangle:

CARY/APEX/MORRISVILLE

Thankfully we have seen an increase in the number of homes for sale to a 2.1-month supply of 960 homes. The median price of homes was $347,000, about $100,000 higher the national norm. This was down 1.7% over a year ago. With low inventory, you would expect the time it takes for a home to sell to be pretty quick and that is exactly the case. The time on market for the 362 homes that sold in February was 42 days, about the same as the 44 day national figure.

CHAPEL HILL/CARRBORO

Inventory dropped in February to just 2.6 months (down 10.3% over last year) with only 191 homes coming on the market to give us only 391 available homes. Prices also stayed stagnant at $348,475, up only 0.8% from last February.

DURHAM COUNTY

The market is as tight with only 617 homes available, an extremely low 1.4 month supply. Homes are selling in a brisk 36 days. Prices are reflecting this supply and demand imbalance, up 12.1% over last February to $266,400.

JOHNSON COUNTY

The median sales price for the 301 homes that sold in February rose less than 1% to $235,000. Just like in most of our region, the supply of homes continues to be a challenge with just 916 homes currently available (-3.7% over last year), a 2.3 month supply (-14.8%).

RALEIGH

Only Durham County had a tighter market. Raleigh has just a 1.6 month supply of homes (1,238) available. February saw a 14.5% jump in sales to 567. Homes are selling in just 35 days. The median price rose by 3% over last year to $274,000.

WAKE COUNTY

The same story here. The number of sales rose 9.9%, yet inventory remains very low at just 2 months or 3,484 available homes, up 5.3% and 3.7% respectively over last February. The 1,296 homes sold in February stayed on the market for an average of just 37 days. Prices also rose 4.1% to $307,000.

WAKE FOREST

Ironically, while there is a 3.1 month supply here, this number was down 11.4% over last year as the 504 homes on the market was also down by 5.8%. The 120 homes that sold did so in 44 days, the same number as across the nation. Median prices jumped to $322,647, up 5.3% over last year.

I hope you are enjoying this look at the national, regional and local real estate markets. If you have any thoughts or questions, let me know at rgregory@cbadvantage.com

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