An interesting trend is popping up for the year so far.  We have sold more homes, granted marginally, but for less volume.  So, that means either we are selling fewer high end homes or prices are still going down.

My thoughts are, a little bit of both.  

Let’s look at the stats:

• 2014 – 16 homes sold over $750,000
• 2015 – 10 homes sold over $750,000
• 2014 – 58 homes sold under $200,000
• 2015 – 49 homes sold under $200,000

This tells us two things.  Fewer high end homes are selling and fewer homes are available for sale under $200,000.  The lower end price range is a no brainer.  They will always sell regardless of the economy and market.  It’s the beach, for less than $200,000!  The bright spot is that those homes are seeing a bump in value.  As things stabilize that price range will always be the first to jump.  Great sign of improvement there.

However, high end home sales do indicate trends.  To be fair, there was a $5,000,000 home sale in January of 2014 which is clearly skewing the numbers.  Even so, there were 6 fewer high end homes that sold so far this year.  And, there are more of them for sale than in 2014.  So, that indicates a slow down in that market.  I’m not quite sure of the cause, would love to hear your thoughts on this.

That covers the first challenge.  The second challenge is that home prices above $300,000 are still dropping, even if just slightly.  Consider these stats:

From Nags Head to Corolla:

• In the last 30 days – 205 homes had a price reduction
• In the last 30 days – 249 new homes came on the market
• In the last 30 days – 127 homes sold

Those are some sobering stats.  My goal is never to be Debbie Downer, yet always look at true reality.  Most homes are STILL having to adjust their price at least once in order to sell and there are still two times the number of homes coming on the market each month as are selling.  It doesn’t take an economics major to tell you that is still a recipe for lower prices.

Same moral of the story as every month…if you want to sell, there is no financial gain to waiting it out short term.  If you want to buy in the under $300,000 range, you’re going to face some competition among other buyers looking for the best deals.  Let me know how I can help!