North Carolina Sales Strong

This site (www.realexit.com) is dedicated to all your Real Estate needs in the Cape Fear Region including Wilmington, Hampstead, Jacksonville and all towns and communities in between!
Search for Homes by clicking here...

"The biggest total sales increase was in North Carolina, where existing-home sales rose 9.7% from the third quarter of 2005."

Conditions for home buyers improved during the third quarter as existing single-family home prices in many metropolitan areas experienced corrections, and most states saw sales activity below a year ago which helped to build housing inventories, according to the latest quarterly surveys by the National Association of Realtors.

Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 6.27 million units in the third quarter, down 12.7 percent from a 7.18 million-unit pace in the third quarter of 2005 – the second highest level on record, after a peak of 7.19 million in the second quarter of last year.  Even with the overall decline, 10 states showed increases in sales activity from a year ago.

Third-quarter metro area single-family home prices, examining changes in 148 metropolitan statistical areas, 2 show 102 areas had price gains, including 21 metros with double-digit annual increases, and 45 areas experiencing price declines; one was unchanged.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said market conditions are nearly the opposite of a year ago.  “Last year we had a record sales market and historically tight supplies of homes with buyers bidding over the asking price,” he said.  “With the market in full transition, buyers now have choices and sellers are more willing to negotiate – under these circumstances it’s no surprise that overall home prices are slightly below a year ago.  We expect this trend to continue in the months ahead, but we’ll see modest appreciation in most of the country in 2007.”

The national median existing single-family home price was $224,900 in the third quarter, down 1.2 percent from a year earlier when the median price was $227,600.  The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs, of Grand Rapids, Mich., and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt, said the market transition is good news for home buyers.  “With the supply of homes at the highest level in over a decade and historically low mortgage interest rates, it’s become a great time to buy a home,” said Combs.  “This window of opportunity will continue into the new year, but inventories are starting to decline and sellers will be less willing to negotiate when conditions begin to balance in most areas around early spring.”

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 6.56 percent in the third quarter, down from 6.60 percent in the second quarter; the rate was 5.76 percent in the third quarter of 2005.  Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed rate was down to 6.24 percent.

The biggest total sales increase was in North Carolina, where existing-home sales rose 9.7 percent from the third quarter of 2005.  In Texas the third-quarter resale pace rose 8.6 percent from a year earlier, while Montana experienced the third strongest gain, up 6.4 percent.

The largest single-family home price increase was in the Salem, Ore., area, where the third quarter price of $228,000 was 24.7 percent higher than a year ago.  Next was Elmira, N.Y., at $93,600, up 21.4 percent from the third quarter of 2005.  The Salt Lake City area, with a third quarter median price of $216,300, increased 19.2 percent in the last year.

Median third-quarter metro area single-family prices ranged from a very affordable $86,000 in both Decatur, Ill., and the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area of Ohio and Pennsylvania, to nearly nine times that amount in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area where the median price was $749,400.  The second most expensive area was the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California, at $747,400, followed by the Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine area (Orange Co., Calif.), at $705,000.

In addition to Elmira, N.Y., other affordable markets include South Bend-Mishawaka, Ind., with a third-quarter median price of $96,000, and the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virginia at $100,900.

In the condo sector, metro area condominium and cooperative prices –  covering changes in 57 markets –  show the national median existing condo price was $222,900 in the third quarter, down 2.1 percent from the same period in 2005.  Thirty-one metros showed annual increases in the median condo price, including eight areas with double-digit gains; 27 metros had price declines.

The strongest condo price gains were in the Knoxville, Tenn., area, where the third quarter price of $155,700 rose 29.0 percent from a year ago.  In Wichita, Kan., the median condo price of $130,300 rose 25.5 percent from the third quarter of 2005, while Albuquerque, N.M., at $153,300, increased 21.0 percent.

Metro area median existing condo prices in the third quarter ranged from $108,200 in Rochester, N.Y., to $600,600 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area.  The second most expensive reported condo market was Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, at $384,500, followed by the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area of California at $361,100.

Other affordable condo markets include Bismarck, N.D., at $109,000, and Greensboro-High Point, N.C., at $113,000.

Regionally, total existing-home sales in the South were at an annual rate of 2.52 million units in the third quarter, down 7.8 percent from a year ago.  After the gains in North Carolina and Texas, the next strongest increase in the South was in Louisiana, up 4.5 percent from the third quarter of 2005, while resales in Arkansas rose 4.3 percent; four other Southern states also posted sales gains.

The median existing single-family home price in the South was $187,300 in the third quarter, which is 0.1 percent below a year earlier.  The strongest increase in the South was in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area, where the median price of $243,800 was 16.9 percent above the third quarter of 2005.  Next was Gainesville, Fla., at $215,200, up 15.9 percent from a year ago, followed by the Gulfport-Biloxi area of Mississippi, with a 15.7 percent gain to $154,400.

In the Midwest, total existing-home sales declined 11.8 percent to a 1.42 million-unit annual level compared with the third quarter of 2005.  The strongest performance in the region was in South Dakota, where sales rose 3.1 percent from a year ago.

The median existing single-family home price in the Midwest was $170,500 in the third quarter, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier.  The strongest metro price increase in the region was in the Wichita, Kan., area, where the median price of $127,900 was 15.0 percent higher than the third quarter of 2005.  Next was Bismarck, N.D., at $140,400, up 7.4 percent, and Kankakee-Bradley, Ill., at $138,400, up 6.1 percent in the last year.

The Northeast saw an existing-home sales pace of 1.05 million units in the third quarter, which was 12.5 percent below a year ago.  The median Northeastern resale single-family home price was $276,000 in the third quarter, which is 4.8 percent below the same period in 2005. 

After Elmira, N.Y., the strongest price increase in the Northeast was in Atlantic City, N.J., with a median price of $277,200, up 12.0 percent from the third quarter of last year, followed by Binghamton, N.Y., with a median price of $107,400, up 10.0 percent.

In the West, the existing-home sales pace of 1.29 million units was 21.5 percent lower than the third quarter of 2005.  The best performance the region was in Montana where existing-home sales rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier.

The median existing single-family home price in the West slipped 0.9 percent to $349,000 during the third quarter.  After Salem, Ore., and Salt Lake City, the strongest increase in the West was in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area of Washington, at $372,400, up 14.6 percent from third quarter of 2005, followed by Spokane, Wash., at $191,100, up 14.1 percent, and Farmington, N.M., at $176,200, up 12.9 percent from a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

# # #

1 The seasonally adjusted annual rate for a particular quarter represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative sales pace for that quarter was maintained for four consecutive quarters.  Total home sales include single family, townhomes, condominiums and co-operative housing.  NAR began tracking the state sales series in 1981.

Seasonally adjusted rates are used in reporting quarterly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity.  For example, sales volume normally is higher in the summer and relatively light in winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and household buying patterns.

Tables of state resale rates, percent changes and some historic data are available at the site below under Research – click on Housing Statistics, then scroll down the center to State Existing-Home Sales.

2 Areas are generally metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  A list of counties included in MSA definitions is available at:
http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro-city/0312msa.txt

Regional median home prices include rural areas and samples of many smaller metros that are not included in this report; the regional percentage changes do not necessarily parallel changes in the larger metro areas.  The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to seasonality in buying patterns.  Quarter-to-quarter comparisons do not compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family buying patterns.

NAR began publication of metropolitan area median single-family home prices in 1982; the metro area condo price series was launched at the beginning of 2006.

Because there is a concentration of condos in high-cost metro areas, the national median condo price sometimes is higher than the median single-family price.  In a given market area, condos typically cost less than single-family homes.  As the reporting sample expands in the future, additional area will be included in the condo price report.

Tables of metropolitan area median prices, percent changes and some historic data are available at http://www.realtor.org  – under Research click on Housing Statistics, then scroll down the center to Metropolitan Area Prices.