A Year-over-Year Update of Our Market

Today I’m here to bring you the numbers from our market.

The number of home showings in our market this April compared to April of 2018 was 67,507 and 77,455, respectively—a year-over-year decrease of 13%. When compared to March of this year, showings for April were also down 12%.

Traditionally, we tend to see the highest volume of showings in the month of March, so it’s not unusual to see a month-to-month drop between March and April. Be that as it may, the dropoff between April 2018 and this April is a bit more surprising.

This gives us every indication that the market is not quite as strong and fast-paced as it was last year.

Inventory was at 5,432 homes in April of this year and 5,516 homes in the same month last year, which constitutes a 2% increase. Additionally, we’ve seen an increased number of year-to-date closings.

However, when looking at inventory and closing statistics for our resale market, both have flattened out. This is a testament to the fact that the strongest source of growth in our market is in new construction.

The average closing price in our market has risen by about 5%, making it $333,000. More specifically, prices have increased by 3.7% in Durham, decreased by 7% in Orange County, increased by 6.2% in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro market, and increased by 6.3% in Chatham County.

Currently, homes are spending an average of 55 days on the market, which is a bit longer than we’ve been accustomed to lately. In Durham, homes are moving at a much more brisk pace: 29 days on average. Even still, that’s an 11% jump compared to last year.

As for Orange County, the average days on market is 43 days, which is a 13% rise. A similar effect is being felt in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, where homes are sitting on the market for 47 days, which is a 4% rise.

The average days on market for Chatham County has actually decreased to a whopping 55 days. This is due, in large part, to a large number of new construction homes under the $350,000 price range that have been springing up.  

Year to date, 51% of the inventory that has come onto the market has been priced at or below $300,000, and of that 51%, 77% of inventory has gone under contract or closed.  

Suffice it to say our market’s inventory is amazingly low on the whole. To break it down, the supply of inventory is as follows: 1.5 months’ worth in Durham, 2.6 months’ worth in Orange County, three months’ worth in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, and four months’ worth in Chatham County.  

Price range and location are the two factors that make all the difference in the level of competition in your particular market. The North Chatham County market is a prime example of this. There, if your home is priced between $600,000 and $700,000, you’re in a much more buyer-friendly 10 months of inventory.

If you’d like to know how your home stacks up against the rest of the market, please reach out to us. We’d be more than happy to run the numbers with you and talk about the market!