People ask me how is the real estate market in Raleigh, NC? Many are interested to know this given the coronavirus pandemic, and the stay-at-home orders issued by the North Carolina government. Fortunately, we have some data that gives us a picture of the Raleigh NC real estate market.
As you saw from the last market update the average price of a home in Wake County has appreciated 5.2% from March 2019 to March 2020. This figure was based on data collected by the Triangle Multiple Listing Service. The challenge was that the stay-at-home order was not issued until late March, so we didn’t have any data that gave us a clear picture of how the coronavirus would affect real estate prices.
| April 2019 | April 2020 | +/- (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Listings | 2,455 | 1,832 | -25.4% | |
| Median Sales Price | $318,952 | $344,135 | +7.9% | |
| Avg Sales Price | $358,408 | $382,309 | +6.7% | |
| Days On Market | 27 | 21 | -22.2% | |
| Inventory | 4,079 | 3,467 | -14.3% | |
| Supply (In Months) | 2.4 | 2.0 | -16.7% | |
| % Of Orig List Price Received | 98.6% | 99.0% | +0.4% | |
| % Of List Price Received | 99.5% | 99.6% | +.01% | |
| Closed Sales | 1,892 | 1,651 | -12.7% |
So in the table above you can see data that compares April 2020 compared with April 2019. Keep in mind this data does not consider private sales, only inventory that is listed and sold via the triangle multiple listing service (TMLS).
New Listings
There was a sharp decline in homes listed for sale in April 2020. From 2,455 homes listed in April 2019 to 1,832 homes in April 2020 is a 25.4% drop. Many homes were removed from the market, or de-listed, because of the pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders.
Average Sales Price
The average sales price for all of Wake County NC rose from $358,408 in 2019 to $382,309 in 2020. That is a 6.7% increase–a strong signal! Not only is this an increase from last year, but it is a 1.5% increase from March 2020. Therefore, real estate prices in Raleigh NC are trending upward.
Median Sales Price
The median sales price increased from $318,952 in 2019 to $344,134 in 2020, a +7.9% increase. A great indicator of strength.
Inventory
The inventory of homes for sale decreased by -14.3% from 4,079 in April 2019 to 3,497 in April 2020. Meaning there are fewer homes for sale on the market to satisfy demand. This also means that there is less competition among homeowners.
Months Supply
This number gives a little more detail regarding the supply of housing. This number is measured in months and takes the total number of houses for sale and measures the amount of time it would take all of that inventory to sell using the monthly average number of sales.
Here’s an example:
If an area has 100 houses sold per month, and that area has 500 houses for sale, we would say that area has a 5-month supply.
Make sense?
There was a 2.0-month supply of inventory reported in April 2020 vs 2.4 months supply in 2019, a -16.7% decrease.
% Of List Price Received
There are two figures here, % of list price received, and % of original list price received. Basically, this is accounting for the listings that made a reduction in price. So, if the original list price was $250,000, and was then reduced to say $245,000, and the house sold for $242,550 this would count as 99% of the list price received, not % of the original list price received–make sense? The takeaway is that houses are selling for about 99% of what they are listed for, which is a strong data point, in my opinion.
The above data suggests that there is still healthy demand for houses in Raleigh NC and particularly Wake County NC, as of April 2020.
There is one more data point I want to cover though..
Have you ever wondered if the sales data is equally strong across multiple price points? $200,000 – $250,000, $300,000 – $350,000, $400,000+?
Let’s look at showing data:
| Price | Total Showings | % Of Showings At This Price | Weekly Average | Showings per Listing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $150k – $199k | 2,072 | 10.88% | 483.47 | 8.74 | |
| $200k – $249k | 2,952 | 15.50% | 688.80 | 8.15 | |
| $250k – $299k | 2,710 | 14.23% | 632.33 | 6.08 | |
| $300k – $349k | 2,556 | 13.42% | 596.40 | 5.67 | |
| $350k – $399k | 2,010 | 10.55% | 469.00 | 4.79 | |
| $400k – $449k | 1,467 | 7.70% | 342.30 | 4.43 | |
| $600k – $649k | 315 | 1.65% | 73.50 | 3.84 |
The chart above lists the number of showings during April 2020 by price point. Do you notice where most of the showings are? The $200,000 – $249,000 price point. That is where the most demand for housing is. The $250,000 – $350,000 homes are still in demand as you can see. But the sharpest decline occurs at the $400,000+ mark.
I can say from my own experience I get a lot of calls from owners of houses in this price range. Many homes are in prime condition but have been sitting on the market for a few weeks. The feedback I get from agents is that the buyers who are interested in this price point are picky and difficult to please.
Overall, the Raleigh Real Estate Market Trends are very positive! Even though we have seen record unemployment claims, there is still a strong demand for housing and a shortage of supply, as can be seen above.
If you have any questions about any of the information above, feel free to comment below and I will answer those questions as soon as I can.
Happy selling!