THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS POOPS ON THE TRIANGLE
Triangle, North Carolina. March Sales Of Existing Homes Down 28 Percent Vs. 2007. Wake, Durham, Johnston and Orange county sales totaled 1,875 homes. That’s the ninth month of declining sales is a row. Unfortunately, future sales indicators are not very promising either. Pending sales for March were down 27 percent. Unsold home inventory, swollen by foreclosures, increased 24.4 percent to 14,492. That number is equal to a nine month supply. Wake building permits slid to 510 for the month. That’s a high dive of 47 percent. Showings were down 15 percent. Furthermore, 42 percent of owners dropped prices on their listings. Last year that figure was 32 percent.
On the plus side the average Triangle home sale price squeezed out a 0.6 percent increase to $235,175. Not too surprisingly spec inventory, despite lending problems and everything else, was up almot 12 percent year to year. Why? National builders have been cutting back on starts for quite some time but local custom builders have existing loans to repay as well as paying for lots that have contracted for. They know the gamble but they each hope their homes will be the ones that sell. Average spec home prices are a far cry from the average sale price of Triangle homes. The average spec home price in March was $608,822 in Orange county, $434,810 in Wake County, $289,091 in Durham county and $249,213 in Johnston county. Homes selling for under $300,000, in particular, are still enjoying strong demand. During several prior blogs I have discussed home staging and the wisdom of seller’s doing it. Those who are doing a good job of it are reaping the rewards of better sales prices and faster sales. So, those of your trying to save money by just “straightening up” take notice. In this market that is penny wise and pound foolish thinking.
John Fish (919) 696-3474 Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com Website: www.JohnFish.com
