Triangle, North Carolina.  Triangle Home Sales Continue Decline During April.  April was the tenth month of declining sales in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties.  March saw a 28 percent drop in sales vs. March of 2007 while April limped home down 24.4 percent.  The average sale price was down 1.45 percent to $228,183.  This was the first decline after 26 consecutive months of increases.  Sales of existing homes in April of last year numbered 2,540 while April of this year produced the sale of only 1,920.  Pending sales were down 27.3 percent, year to year, the inventory of unsold was up 27 percent, adverage days on market was 106 days vs. 79 days last year and showings were down 15 percent.  Housing starts in Wake County were at a 10 year low.  While home prices fell 3.1 percent nationally during the first quarter of this year, Raleigh and Cary home prices increased 4.92 percent and Durham prices were up 3.92 percent.  Furthermore, owners of homes in the Triangle priced at $300,000 and less aren’t having any problems selling their homes.  So, how bad the storms were during April depended on where you were and what you had to offer.

John Fish (919) 696-3474  Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com 

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  Average Triangle Area Home Closing Prices For 2007.  In my post of February 8 I listed the month by month sales during 2007 in Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake Counties.  They comprise the sales for the counties that account for most of the sales in the Triangle area.  The following is a listing the Average Residential Closing Prices in the same counties (Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake) during 2007.

Wake - January - $242,275   February - $264,355   March - $255,238   April - $253,649   May - $265,936   June - $270,481   July - $276,412   August - $272,977   September - $265,662   October - $261,279   November - $265,911   December - $252,981   Durham - January - $201,172   February - $201,298   March - $199,190   April - $194,259   May - $199,538   June - $199,001   July - $192,988   August - $199,729   September - $192,696   October - $191,503   November - $197,170   December - $216,620   Johnston - January - $173,305   February - $179,526   March - $174,714   April - $174,356   May - $178,942   June - $176,816   July - $191,599   August - $181,348   September - $186,175   October - $183,779   November - $184,345   December - $179,583   Orange - January - $342,815   February - $322,695   March - $315,779   April - $319,394   May - $326,241   June - $344,894   July - $331,239   August - $379,777   September - $375,762   October - $396,985   November - $317,788   December - $358,208

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com       

Raleigh-Cary home prices rose during second quarter.  During the second quarter prices of existing single-family homes in Raleigh-Cary rose at a rate of 7.1% compared with a year earlier. This makes the average price of a resale home in Wake County $270,242.  Durham resale prices rose at a rate of 5.4% during the same period which makes their average resale home price $213,671. This is according to Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (how’s that for a mouth full!).  Nationwide prices rose 3.2%.  The Triangle Multiple Listing Service says the inventory of unsold homes in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties was 12,641 in July which is an increase of 19% from a year ago.  This data doesn’t reflect the the subprime problems and volatility of the mortgage markets of the last few weeks.   

Buyers coming into the Triangle should we aware that what they read in the newspapers and magazines and what they see on the web doesn’t necessarily reflect the “real world”.  There most certainly are some “good deals” available in housing in most price ranges.  While Forbes.com says the Raleigh housing market is a seller’s market, it is - - and it isn’t.  Throughout most of the Triangle seller’s are certainly more price flexible than they were three to six months ago.  Just how flexible depends on the particular city and the particular subdivision.  As always, it also depends on how quickly a seller needs to sell, if they have any kind of moving package from their employer and what their financial condition is.  So, if you are coming to the Triangle and think you can a considerable knock off from the list price you are probably going to be disappointed.  If you come here thinking you might have to “pay through the nose” for what you buy because it is a “seller’s market” that probably isn’t going to be the case either.  The bottom line is this, if you have an agent with at least five years of experience and who knows the Triangle, let him or her lead you and you will get the best price and on the best terms.  If you want an agent with a lot more years than that in the business, call me or send me an email at the number or address below.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@lmindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com