Cary NC Luxury Market Report -2009 YTD

I'm in the process of putting together some detailed information for my neighborhood newsletter and I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss the Cary NC Luxury Real Estate market in 2009. I'm asked on a regular basis how the market is holding up in our area and the answer can be quite different depending on the price points. The Cary NC Real Estate market has held up quite well relative to the rest of the country. In fact, the Raleigh Cary MSA is regularly touted as one of the top 2 strongest in the country along with Austin TX.

The one recurring theme that I've noticed with listing and selling homes in this price range in Cary is that, although the numbers are still strong for sales above $500k, new construction seems to be garnering a large proportion of the luxury home segment. Year-to-date in Cary there have been 151 home sales for detached homes above $500k, 91 of those homes (60%) were new construction.

The Triangle Real Estate Market is off close to 40% this year from last year so I thought it also might be interesting to analyze how the Cary NC Luxury Real Estate market's sales are in 2009 vs. 2008. As I mentioned above there have been 151 luxury home sales in Cary in 2009 YTD so I also wanted to pull the details on the Luxury Home Sales from 1/1/2008 -9/19/08. There were 238 in 2008, which represents a 36% decline. The logical conclusion is that Cary Luxury Home Sales are holding up quite well.

In Cary there are a couple of other elements at play which I have mentioned in previous reports. In the past homes in established neighborhoods like MacGregor Downs and Preston sold incredibly well because the neighborhoods were well established and had golf course views lending homebuyers the highly desired country club lifestyle. Another trend that is blindingly clear - builders are no longer are no longer touting the phrase "build it and they will come". Custom Builders in this area have taken a beating and overbuilt for the growth. We are slowly churning through the existing specs which will soon be gone. As a result, builders will not be doing the wheeling and dealing we have seen in the area this years on the existing homes.

For the sake of this analysis I'm going to break down the homes into four price points:

• $500,000-$700,000
• $700,000-$800,000
• $800,000-$1M
• $1M-$2M+ and $2M+

All figures are bases on numbers pulled today September 19th and are from the Triangle MLS:

Here are a few observations that relate back to my comments above:

• The average price/square foot for Cary's Luxury homes is $150/square foot and $170/square foot above $700k which is quite lower than laste years $197/square foot but sill less expensive than homes in other popular Luxury Home communities in the Triangle
• Top Selling established neighborhoods include Preston w/12 Sales, MacGregor with 6 Sales, Lochmere w/5 sales, and Wyndfall w/6.
• New construction neighborhoods selling briskly include Copperleaf, Southbridge at Cary Park, Hillard Forest, and Green Level Crossing
• In the $700k-$800k price range there are 5 pending, 2 in Lochmere, 2 in Wyndfall, and my listing in Glenkirk.
• In 2008 there were 17 homes that sold between $1M-$2M. This year there have been 24, however only 1 resale in this price range.
• Last year there were 28 homes on the market over $1M. Today there are just 12 and no increase in sales which indicates a number of sellers have taken their homes off the market until the market improves.
• Supply on Market climbs as the price point increases.

If you have any questions regarding this report or would like more information on the Cary NC Luxury Home Market please feel free to email me or visit my website for more information.

For more information:

2008 Cary NC Luxury Home Market Report