Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 11:02 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 11:02 a.m.
Home sales in the Wilmington area continued to improve in October, with the number of closed transactions topping year-earlier levels for the second straight month.
Sales of homes covered by the listing service of the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors rose to 447 in October, compared with 358 in October 2008 and 396 in September of this year.
“The government extending the first-time buyer credit and offering the new tax credits for (other) buyers should help continue to stabilize and improve the real estate market,” April McDavid, president of the WRAR, said Tuesday in an e-mail.
In another positive sign for the area’s housing market, permits for single-family homes rose to 136 in New Hanover County from 114 in September, 77 in August and 50 in July, the county planning and inspections department said Monday.
Local home sales include sales of new-construction homes as well as resales.
Home sale numbers, however, may become less valuable from here out because this time last year the real estate market began feeling the effects of the September financial meltdown. Monthly sales subsequently plunged in late fall and winter.
For instance, sales in November 2008 – the first month to be affected by the financial meltdown – plunged to 220 from 358 in October.
McDavid said last month that it would be next year before the area could see a sustained climb out of the real estate slump, although she and other real estate experts here think we have hit bottom.
The average price of a home whose sale closed in October fell to $237,998 compared with $257,912 in October 2008. The median price – that is the price where half sold for more and half for less – slipped to $187,500 from $200,000 a year earlier.
Prices reflect only the homes sold in a particular month and do not necessarily reflect the value of homes in general. Additionally, they are volatile because the numbers are affected by other factors, including the number of homes that sold in higher or lower price ranges.
Though more homes sold in October than a year earlier and a month earlier, the number of days it took to sell them rose.
The average number of days on the market it took to sell a home rose in October to 143 from 135 in September and 115 a year earlier, the local Realtors said.
Wayne Faulkner: 343-2329
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