2007 Year-end Market Report for Cary, NC Real Estate

Don't listen to everything you read in the paper or hear on the news!! The Triangle Real Estate market is doing just fine ladies and gentleman. Yes, I have a few clients that can't sell where they are coming from, but we still have a strong economy, job growth, and our sales last year were the 3rd best on record for Wake County.

From a buyers perspective there are significant buying opportunities for several reasons:

1. The recent mortgage crisis has put pressure on the lenders and made buyers/sellers a bit nervous. Between the new legislation in NC to protect consumers in this state and the tightening of credit our market is bearing some of the brunt of this fallout.
2. We have a lot of new construction in the area and builders are wheeling and dealing to unload their existing inventory.
3. Overall housing inventory has increased from 13,000 to over 17,100 homes in February 2008 which gives buyers plenty of homes to choose from.

For those of you that look at the numbers, here is a summary for through year-end 2007:

-Average list/sales price ratio is at 97%
-House price appreciation in this area is superior to the average rate for housing located in Wake County.
-Overall inventory is 4 months vs. 5 months for the Triangle
-Anything under $300k in Cary is experiencing a 2 months supply of inventory or less and is still a sellers market.
-Price categories with the largest inventory include the $1M+ price range with over 21 months of inventory.
-Closings were down 11% for 2007

Job Growth is still healthy but leveled off at the end of 2007 at 0.5%. Although this may appear low these numbers are some of the best in the Country.

The biggest challenges for 2008 which reiterate the market conditions above are:

1. Instability of the housing market in general.
2. Consumer worries about the economy.
3. Changes in lending practices.
4. Families relocating to the area are having trouble selling their homes prior to relocating.

For more information on the area please visit my website at www.TriangleNCHomes4Sale.com or www.activerain.com/tsantrock for more information on the area.