Asheville, Buncombe County, NC Real Estate Market Statistics - January 2009
Active and Sold - January 2009 and 2008 Comparisons
Our Active Residential Listings have increased 2% from this same time last year.
The Average Asking Price has increased 1.1% and Median Asking Price has decreased 3%.
What we faced in January 09 was the lowest number of homes sold in a month in over 8 years! It was a decrease of 50% over January 2008.
That is the real problem we still face, the SOLD numbers are down. This month the SOLD prices increased significantly from January 2008 because several very expensive homes closed bringing the averages up, but that will shake out in February. As you can see by the chart below, we have been down significantly on our SOLD numbers and that has been the case all of the last 12 months, yet our inventory has increased.
Also the number of Days on Market is at the highest levels in over 5 years for both Active and Sold listings.
Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Land
AR Members: Post your listings and market reports at the Group: http://activerain.com/groups/CityStateListingsReports
DECEMBER - 2008
What is a Healthy Real Estate Market?
That is not always an easy question to answer, but usually, inventory of unsold homes available should not equal more than a 6 to 8 month supply. Prices and inventory seem to set the theme and "location, location, location" is not always the final judgment of health or desirability.
As we ended the year, it was obvious that Asheville was not experiencing a "healthy" market. Asheville and Buncombe County are continuing to hold steady at about 14 months supply, on average.
This is the normal slow-down time of year and inventory is normally reduced because some sellers do not want to have lookers go through the house in winter weather or can wait until the spring season when sales normally pick up.
In Asheville, we are continuing to see a slow, but small, reduction in home prices, as the inventory sits at the top of recent high numbers, although the inventory has begun to reduce due to the normally slower time of year.
There has been an increase in the number of properties offered under the "short sale" concept, which is where the mortgage holder agrees to let the owner attempt to sell the house for less than what is owed, so as to prevent a foreclosure. Many banks are allowing the owners to stay for extended periods to see if a buyer will buy before a foreclosure takes place.
The real area of concern continues to be about the homes over $400,000. The worrisome market is the homes at or over $1 million. The number of sales per month compared to the existing inventory suggests a rather long term for that inventory to either shrink or see prices drop by large percentages.
Sales of homes under $285,000 seem to be stable with only a small excess in inventory. This would indicate that the "average" buyer has plenty of homes to choose from and most of them are at fair market value.
The question is....where are the buyers? It looks like September, October, November, and now December are going to be the worst months this year, and for many years past, for unit sales. January 2009 also looks like it will result the lowest number of units sold in over 12 years.
Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Land
Vacant Land, Lots, and Acreage - Buncombe County, NC - December 2008
Buncombe County includes the cities or areas of Asheville, Weaverville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Arden, Skyland, Candler, and Biltmore Forest.
Buncombe County land sales in 2008 have averaged about 47% of sales in 2007. That would indicate that the land sales have lagged behind just like home sales and that would seem to indicate that investors/developers/speculators have slowed in concert with the existing housing market.
373 parcels have been Sold in 2008 with an Average Sold Price of $142,634, a slight decrease from November prices.
A breakdown of those sales for 2008 looks like this:
1 acre or under - 178 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $89,321.
1 to 2.99 acres - 118 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $129,596.
3 to 4.99 acres - 34 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $130,481.
5 to 9.99 acres - 15 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $212,056.
10 to 20 acres - 11 parcels were sold with an Average Sold Price of $307,655.
There are currently 2347 parcels of any size on the market with an Average Asking Price of $258,329.
The Average Asking Price of the 3,004 Residential homes "for sale" in Buncombe County is $464,842.
It is fairly obvious that the high cost of vacant land has a great affect on the overall cost of homes in our area.
(The above 3.06 acre lot next to new house in Leicester, NC can be purchased for $149,000. Will also trade up or down. Underground utilities/DSL/phone and is ready to build on. Broker/Owner)
DECEMBER 2008
Buncombe County is the home of Asheville, NC.
Buncombe County and the surrounding areas of Asheville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Biltmore Forest, and Arden, like the rest of the country, have been experiencing many of the trends that keep the real estate markets unsettled.
Active listings inventory would normally drop this time of year due to sellers not wanting to have their home on the market in winter conditions. There has been a slight drop in active listings, but they are not yet at the "healthy" level. If they would stay at these levels or below for the next several months, then we might be able to see the market stabilize, but if, as it usually does, the inventory begins to build in mid-January, then we will most likely see a continued drop in house values.
There has been a slight change in the market conditions compared to last month, but only slight. The reason there are 3 segments in the red (upward trend) is that many of the homes that were over a $1 million asking price are not dropping into the next lower price range categories.
Until mid-summer the Asheville area has historically been immune from the negative real estate trends that the rest of the country has been experiencing. This is different now. The market "slumps" in most of the country has now had an impact on the Asheville area, at least as far as homes over the $275,000 mark.
This story is the same as last several months, but the Asheville area has continued to see a dramatic slow-down of Sold homes, a moderately fluctuating inventory, and a noticeable drop in "pending" listings. There is a noticeable increase in homes on the market that are pre-foreclosure and many that are "short sale" candidates, both negatively affecting the market.
The record number of Active Listings in Buncombe County is 3,493 which was set in September, 2008.
The trend indicator below is for the current month compared to last month.
Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Land
BUNCOMBE COUNTY December 2008 - Current Inventory by Price Range
Here are the trends and statistics for for the 4th quarter of 2008 for Asheville & Buncombe County, NC.
Buncombe County is made up of Asheville, Leicester, Weaverville, Candler, Woodfin, Arden, Barnardsville, Black Mountain, and several other area locations.
If you go to Realtor.com to search for listings in the Asheville area, be sure to put in Leicester and the other areas to get the complete picture of what is available in our beautiful part of the country.
If you put just the word "Asheville" in a Google search you will get 14,800,000+ hits! The number one site for Asheville is Asheville.com.
If you put the words Buncombe County NC you will get 294,000 hits. The number one site is Buncombe County. org.
In comparison, if you put the word "ActiveRain" in you will get 1,700,000+ hits.
Asheville is a destination that many folks are striving to reach so these real estate trends may be helpful to that population, and also the agents that will be helping them with the relocation.
These Trend reports are published in the Asheville Citizen Times newspaper every three months and they have been using my reports for over 7 years now to inform their readers.
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Innovation in Real Estate Since 1984. 1st Exclusive Buyer's Agent in WNC. 1st Discount Listing Service Provider in WNC. REALSEARCH provides Buncombe County Real Estate Statistics, Trends & Refer
Today, I am a Research and Referral conduit for Sellers and Buyers. I rarely take new listings or work with new buyer clients. I work primarily as a referral agent. At this time, I work only with past clients and the referrals they send to me. After over 20 years in the business in Asheville, I am able to go in that business decision.
The benefit, to Sellers and Buyers looking for agents to work with in our market, is I have learned how to determine which agents are truly successful in their field of expertise, in all those years of my experinece in this market As a result, where I can be of the most assistance to a Buyer or Seller is to guide the Buyer or Seller in the "right" direction in their choice of the agent they may decide to work with. I refer you to the most qualified agents among the masses of the "old -timer" established, the newbies, the good ones and the ones that may best be suited for the particular needs of you, the client. I also help you avoid considering the agents that may not deliver the services you are expecting. All this is done through my research of the history of the agents best suited for the job based on their past production and legacy. There is NEVER a charge to the Buyer or Seller for the referral. The receiving agent pays my fee from their commission, when a sale is completed. For Sellers, the referral I make is based on the price range of the property, the location, the time frame desired to sell, and to an extent, the personalities of the parties. There are agents who think they are "multi-talented", but today, agents are no longer all things to all people. There are agents that specialize in, or just plain do better with homes under $250,000. There are agents that specialize in homes from $200,000 to $500,000, those that only do well if the home is over $450,000, those that don't do much outside the city limits, those that prefer only new homes, etc. I sort through all of that to pinpoint the one best suited for the job based on the facts, not hyperbole. For Buyers, the referral is based on the longevity of the agent and the background necessary to truly appreciate the special relationship a buyer and the agent should have. I avoid any agent that believes in dual agency as the "best" solution to helping buyers and sellers. Buyers and Sellers are adversaries and the agent needs to understand that the buyer should be given every fact to put that buyer in the best negotiating position possible based on the facts and knowledge of the market. A great buyer's agent should be a great researcher, not a bulletin board reader. The referral and research that I do is not based on a "buddy" system! It is based on the pure facts resulting from an MLS search of the sales in the area of interest of the client. It is my job to see who is doing what in the marketplace using my research skills. If you need to know which of the 1,900 Asheville agents might be the best agent for you, give me a call or email. It costs you nothing unless YOU pick the wrong agent without having a little help. Now, with that said, sometimes even the "best" will not give you exactly what you had hoped for, but we will try to find the "best" suited to your needs. www.asheville.com for the latest in "Things to do in Asheville."
REALSEARCH 
Market condition statistics, especially current trends, can be very useful to some buyers and sellers. Since market conditions affect how we market and, the expectations we have, I do a great deal of statistical research (not just 3 listing CMAs) to help my clients, the local newspaper, the Chamber of Commerce, other brokers, and clients of other agents, etc. with the research they find necessary. As a Realtor, I find many fellow Realtors, because it can be time consuming and tasking, do not pay a great deal of attention to in-depth statistics and trends.
That is where REALSEARCH comes in.
This research service, for both real estate professionals and the general public, compiles the data that is a roadmap into the market conditions in Western North Carolina (specializing in, but not limited to Buncombe County/Asheville), for at least one year back, on a monthly basis (some research is done daily) for Buncombe County single family residential real estate market, which includes single family homes, condos, townhomes, and mobile homes on owned land.
This is NOT a "Crystal Ball" approach and is not a forecasting program, but rather a gathering of the statistics gained from the Western North Carolina Regional Multiple Listing Service (WNCRMLS). It is designed to show trends. It provides data about the number of Active listings (daily), as well as the number of Listed, Pending, Sold and Expired (monthly). The "Average List Price" and the "Median List Price" and "Days on Market"(DOM) are displayed. The "Year to Date" number of "Sold" compared to a year ago and the percentage difference is recorded.
The Asheville/Buncombe County reports are provided in Windows format on Excel (data and charts) and Word. $50 for first report, which includes the last quarter "Year in Review" and then $25 per report (provided monthly, for any month desired) thereafter. Customized research is also possible on an hourly basis.
You tell me what data you need, and I will do the research for you.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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