Ethiopian Review

The number of home sales in the Triangle dipped again in August, with 11 percent fewer homes sold than in to the same month last year.

The 1,957 homes sold in August also represented a 16 percent drop from the number of homes sold in July, according to the latest data from Triangle Multiple Listing Service. The volume of homes sold was worth $450.9 million, which was down by 17 percent from the year prior.

But the median and average sales prices continued to show welcome trends. The average sale price in August was $230,415, up slightly from the average sale price in July of $229,532. However, the August average sale price was still down 7.2 percent from the year prior. The median sale price was around $187,000, a 5.3 percent decline from a year ago.

“This time last year, everything was negative, so now we’re seeing a mixture of stuff,” says residential real estate analyst Stacey Anfindsen. “Whether we’re at the bottom or not, nobody knows, but there are clues that we are searching for the bottom.”

Anfindsen adds that he noticed a spike in home tours in August for houses priced under $250,000, which could be attributed to the popularity of a $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. The program is set to expire on Nov. 30. Homes showing at other price points continued to drop. “I’ll be curious to see what happens when that program expires,” he says.

The inventory of homes available for sale also continues to shrink. Triangle MLS listed 17,418 homes for sale in August, which is down 41 percent from the market’s peak in June 2008.

The MLS figures, which are supplied by Anfindsen, cover the Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston County markets. The Wake numbers were not immediately available, but breakdowns for the other three counties were:

• In Durham County, the number of homes sold dipped by 9.7 percent, to 278 homes. The average home sale price was $206,006, a 5 percent increase from the year prior.

• In Orange County, the number of homes sold was steady with a 2.4 percent decline on the sale of 123 homes. The average sale price was $334,288, which was down by only 2.1 percent from the year prior.

• In Johnston County, the number of homes sold declined by 14.1 percent with the sale of 171 homes. The average sale price was $169,711, a 9.1 percent decline from the year prior.

- by Amanda Jones Hoyle | Triangle Business Journal