The Week in Review
….your Wilmington Connection
April 19, 2009
The end of a lovely weekend here in Wilmington, this is why we live here. This is why many people would like to live here and if you are one of them and want some info please email me and we can get you started. The market has been heating up many transactions have taken place, but who can resist with home prices as they are.
Local real estate leaders aren’t ready yet to say that the outlook is sunny, but there may be light at the end of the long, dark housing tunnel.
Sales contracts signed in recent weeks have soared, according to real estate agencies here. And a big factor in that is the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, Realtors and lenders say.
One is that first-home buyers have to close on their purchases by Dec. 1 to receive the $8,000 tax credit. Another is that families with children tend to buy in the spring or summer so they are moved in before school starts in the fall. Finally, mortgage interest rates are at historic lows.
That final factor has heated up the mortgage business, brokers here say. Not only have they spurred a jump in refinancings, but a big chunk of the business is for purchases as well.
Closed home sales here rose in March from the month before, but were still down from March 2008, according to data from the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors.
Sales rose to 335 in March from 250 in February in the area covered by the WRAR – essentially New Hanover and Pender counties and the northern part of Brunswick. But they were still down from the 409 that closed in March 2008. Contracts for those homes would have been signed in January and February.
The prices of sold houses continued to decline from year-earlier levels, according to the Realtors’ data. The median price of homes sold in March – that is the price at which half of homes sold for more and half for less – was $175,683 compared with $201,000 in March 2008. The average price fell to $218,130 from $236,996.
Prices are on homes closed in March and do not necessarily reflect the general market value of area property.
Though first-time home buyers are big players in the local market, they are not the only force at work.
That said, the inventory of homes for sale is still high. A check of houses for sale this week found more than 140 on the market in Landfall, for instance, though the overall number of listings by all Realtors here has dropped from last year.
Experts see a drop in listings – and by extension, inventory – as a positive sign. The market cannot stabilize until much of that inventory is sold.
…until next week in
The Week in Review
Tina
