RALEIGH – Triangle area home sales fell by more than 30% year-over-year across the entire region, the latest data shows. But prices aren’t following that trend.
Despite the decrease in the number of homes sold in January 2023 compared to January 2022, the median sale price of those homes increased by 3.9%, which far outpaces the national average. That’s according to the latest data from Triangle Multiple Listing Service.
And both data points – for home sales and for price appreciation – outpace the national averages. A report released on Tuesday from the National Association of REALTORS showed that U.S. home sales of existing homes fell again in January, the 12th consecutive month of decreasing home sales.
Nationwide, home sales fell nearly 37% in January 2023 compared to January 2022. But in the Triangle, that drop was 30.5%. And in Wake County, according to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service report, the decrease was even lower, at 29.5%.
While median home sale prices of existing homes rose 1.3% year-over-year nationwide, in the Triangle, prices grew at a rate three times as high.
Further, median sale prices rose even more in Wake County, with the median sale price of homes in the county at $462,000 in January 2023 compared to a median sale price of $434,900 in January 2022, an increase of 6.2%.
Still, home price appreciation in the Triangle slowed to the lowest level since April 2020, according to the data set from TMLS.
“The data [is] suggesting more of a cooling in the housing market in the Triangle than the weakness we are seeing in many other places,” said Dr. Gerald Cohen, chief economist at the Kenan Institute, in an interview with WRAL TechWire earlier this month.
Buying a home in the Triangle is more affordable than it’s been in months
Heating up for spring?
And there are already signs that the Triangle real estate market is heating up, with buyers re-entering the market following the winter months of November, December, and January.
That’s because Raleigh ranked as the nation’s hottest housing market in an recent analysis of real estate market data and economic data from the U.S. News & World Report.
“With regional Housing Market Index totals ranging up to 71.7 versus a national value of 64.4, the following six MSAs are the hottest housing markets ranked from first to fifth, with the third highest a tie between Austin and Durham,” USNews reported on a scale of 1 to 100.
The scores:
- Raleigh: 71.7
- Denver: 67.5
- (Tie) Austin: 67.3
- (Tie) Durham: 67.3
- Phoenix: 66.9
- Richmond: 66.8
Further, the price of buying a house – or renting a home – continue to increase in the region, which also continues to see economic development announcements and a labor market where there are nearly 300,000 job postings available.
What’s happening
Currently, there are more than 6,000 homes listed for sale in the Triangle region, and 1,835 listings for sale in Wake County.
Further, there are more than 2,800 listings that are pending or contingent in Wake County, along with 7,324 pending or contingent homes across the area.
Mortgage rates have again increased to 6.32% for a 30-year-fixed rate, on average, according to the latest data from Freddie Mac, after falling to nearly 6% earlier this month. And that could change buyer behavior, if increasing mortgage rates affect a buyer’s ability or willingness to make an offer to purchase a home that they like.
Still, homes in the Triangle are going to remain in demand, because people continue to move.
“Well-priced homes relative to the value they offer a new owner should still sell,” said Tony Fink, a licensed real estate agent with Linda Craft Team REALTORS in Raleigh. And even though January is typically a slower real estate market compared to other months in the Triangle, Fink said that there were continued transactions throughout the month, averaging something like 74 closed sales per day.
“The housing market is dynamic, not static, so it’s always changing,” said Fink.
One primary factor: The Triangle is attracting buyers who are moving from other regions. In fact, a different study from the National Association of REALTORS found that North Carolina was among the top three states in the nation for inbound relocations, as were both the Triangle region and Charlotte region.
Triangle is hot spot for movers – that means more housing demand, higher prices
