Raleigh Metro/Wake County, North Carolina Sets New Average Price Mark.
Market Feels Very Different, Where Does it Go From Here?

May 2024 is the first month that the sales price of Wake County homes will average over $600,000.00, as of right now $611,706.00 and the median home price is $501,000.00. This is where the market is, but where is it going?
The first five months of 2024 have felt like the first five months of 2023. Sales are almost equal, contracts written very similar, prices are up. Strangely the last four weeks have felt different, the of winds of unwarranted confidence are blowing strongly, buyer conversations are very tepid, friends in other industries are telling feeling the same, could be me, could be the market. When in doubt turn to data.
YTD 2024: 6480 homes sold at an average price of $573,172.00.*
YTD 2023: 6591 homes sold at an average price of $546,493.00
*2024 units and average price will rise as May numbers are still being reported.
May 2024: 1502 homes sold at an average sales price of $611,706.00
May 2023: 1570 homes sold at an average sales price of $569,453.00
April 2024: 1540 homes sold at an average sales price of $592,556.00
Unit sales are flat, strong price growth.
I like to measure market velocity: contracts written, showings, new listings. Measuring this by the week let's see where the market going in real time. Below are monthly velocity numbers.
Contracts:
May 2024: 1,633 at an average list price of $586,014.00
April 2024: 1,579 at an average list price of $592,281.00
Showings:
May 2024: 21,290
April 2024: 23,002
May 2023: 22,646
April 2023: 24,396
New Listings:
May 2024: 2,090
April 2024: 1,886
May 2023: 1,539
April 2023: 1,435
Showings per listing are down, inventory is growing, plus 764 in May and April of 2024. Of the 1210 contracts written on existing homes in May 596 sold in the first week, 46%. This is down from 54% in February 2024 and down 4% from April of 2024.
The market is cooling, there are amazing opportunities in the market over the next 60 days, look for mortgage rates to move in a positive direction (coming down) in the next 90-120 days (or 60-30 days out from voting day) as we see average prices do the seasonal decline and inventory grow. The fall market will be strong, we usually see slight price increases, this fall will be stronger.
Fun fact for the day, in 2019 the last "normal" market, 8,196 homes were sold in the first five months of the year. Since then Wake County has added +/- 100,000 new residents. There are a lot of buyers waiting for the right stimulus.
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