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REview: Early Market Direction Main Photo

REview: Early Market Direction


Looking at what NAR's recent home sales report and local data from the Triangle MLS means to our local real estate market.
Posted: February 25, 2019 by Bryan Selser

I am a numbers freak so I look forward to the monthly National Association of Realtors Existing Homes Sales Report which was released last Thursday.

As an economic indicator at the national level, NARs report is fantastic and eagerly awaited by economists and policy makers in D.C. But it does little good in helping anyone interested in entering the home buying or selling process. That is obviously because of the ultra-local nature of real estate.

But the report is still interesting.

I was most happy to see that we may be headed for a more balanced real estate market where buyers have more homes to choose from and the pace of sales rise and price gains slow.

Thursday’s report showed that this remains the case. Home sales nationally were down 1.2% in January compared to last year while prices rose 2.8% to $247,500. This marked the 83rd straight month that prices rose compared to the previous year.

However, the report did detail a few promising signs for the future, most notably inventory levels increased to 1.59 million available homes in U.S. which equates to a 3.9 month supply. This is up from 3.4 months in January 2017. More inventory should mean less stress on buyers thus January homes sold stayed on the market for 49 days vs. 42 a year ago.

But, since I already shared that these national numbers don’t mean much, let’s break it down further.

So let’s get even closer to home where inventory concerns are even more pronounced.

Triangle MLS recently reported January figures for Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake Counties. January was an active month compared to the opening month of 2017. We saw nearly 3,800 homes come on the market (an increase of 10% over a year ago) lifting our incredibly tight inventory levels to a 2.3 month supply, a number that hasn’t budged much.  

Sales remained off by 7% from a year ago while prices rose 3.9% to a median $259,800. These homes stayed on the market for 40 days, the same as last year.

As we all know, real estate is a very local business. To learn more about the 490 new listings that come online, or to better understand the 7.7% price increase we have seen in Cary and Apex, or the 5.4% price increase in Raleigh, or any of the activity in any market and neighborhood, please reach out to one of our local agents in your area by visiting our website at cbadvantage.com or by asking Alexa to “Open Triangle Real Estate” to learn more about the home buying or selling process.

Written by Rick Gregory, COO Coldwell Banker Advantage,

Rgregory@cbadvantage.com

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