Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County North Carolina Third Quarter Real Estate Market Data

This update is year-to-date, encompassing the first nine months of real estate sales activity in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County, North Carolina.  In a nutshell, showings, contracts and closed sales are down.  Thankfully, although prices are down somewhat, they are not down as much as in other markets.  It is also very interesting to see the difference in the average price changes in Orange County as compared with Chapel Hill & Carrboro.  I also have taken a deeper look in Chapel Hill and Carrboro between single family homes, new construction and condos & townhouses.  Our inventory is up but also not as much as other markets and days on market has increased some.  The details are provided below.

• Year-to-date, showings are down 27%.
  

• Contract pendings are down 19%.  The trend in the Triangle area overall is 22% so Orange County is doing somewhat better.

• Closed sales are down 31% (and new home sales are off 52%).  This is a bit slower than the Triangle overall where sales are off 27%.  In Chapel Hill and Carrboro (only), sales are off 23%, which is slightly better.  If you look deeper, sales of Single Family homes are off 23%, sales of new construction are off 41% and sales of condos and townhomes are off 24%.

• Days on market have increased from 79 days to 80 days for properties that have closed through September, 2008.  This sounds pretty good but days on market for houses currently active is 126.  It is very critical for sellers to look closely at the most recent sales data when pricing their home.  More than ever this is the time to price a home realistically.

• Good News, Bad News:  The current supply of all housing located in the county is 8 months as compared with 5 months at the end of the third quarter in 2007.  This is a significant change in the amount of inventory since last year, but overall inventory had decreased from 10 months which is what we had earlier this year.

• The average sales price in Orange County (including Chapel Hill & Carrboro) is $325,677, which is down 5% from last year at $340,376. 

• In Chapel Hill/Carrboro only, Average Sales Prices for Single Family Homes are down 1% from last year and up 3% over 2006 average prices.  New Construction lost the ground made between 2006 and 2007 with a 5% gain in that time frame and  since last year average prices have declined 5%.  The biggest impact has been in townhouse and condo average sales prices which experienced a 5% decline from 2006 to 2007 and another decline from last year at this time of 11%.  Since 2006, average prices for condos and townhouses in Chapel Hill have declined 16%.

• When we look at these numbers, however, it is difficult to separate out how many times a price may have had to come down before the house has sold.  In many instances, sellers are having to back off prices anywhere from 5-10%.

• In the coming months, buyers should take advantage of good inventory to choose from and low interest rates.  If you are gainfully employed with moderate to great credit, this is an excellent time to buy.  Sellers need to realize that is is a great time to buy and price their homes based on sales over the last 3 months because this is the best indicator of current value.

Also see my 3rd Quarter Real Estate Market Summary for Durham, North Carolina.

Contact Jodi Bakst, Broker, CRS, GRI, ABR, Certified Distressed Property Expert, and Certified Luxury Home Specialist in Chapel Hill, NC at 1-88-TeamJodi (888-326-5634) to list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham, Hillsborough, Pittsboro or Orange, Durham or Chatham County North Carolina.   Team Jodi is accepting referrals.

Click here to learn more about Team Jodi and our services.

Click here to view Team Jodi’s listings click here;

Click here to Search listings throughout Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and the surrounding Triangle NC area, click here.

If you are looking to list your home in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Orange or Durham County North Carolina, call Team Jodi toll free at 88-TeamJodi (888-326-5634), email us at Jodi@TeamJodi.com or visit us at www.TeamJodi.com.