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Triad housing market continues to feel economy's chill
March sales of existing homes were down from a year ago, as was the average sale price
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Published: May 2, 2009
Sales of existing homes across the Triad dropped 33 percent in March.
The number of sales fell to 742 from 1,107 in March 2008, according to the N.C. Association of Realtors.
The average sales price fell 11 percent to $151,250 for the same period.
On the upside of the report, sales of existing homes improved month-over-month, with the 11-county Triad area reporting a sales increase of 20 percent in March 2009, up from 618 sales in February.
In North Carolina, overall sales mirrored results in the Triad. The number of existing-home sales were down 29 percent in March at 6,054, compared with 8,519 in March 2008. The average sales price fell 8 percent to $195,331.
Sales rose 30 percent in March 2009 from 4,654 in February.
Separately, a local report by Michael Clapp of Michael S. Clapp & Associates Inc., a Winston-Salem real-estate appraisal company, shows similar types of figures for Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Stokes and Yadkin counties for the first two months of 2009.
The combined number of houses sold in these counties from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28 decreased 28.4 percent to 564, compared with 788 for the same period in 2008, according to the Clapp report.
The average sales price was $155,368, down 8.1 percent from $169,055 for the first two months of 2008. New listings, which are a supply indicator, fell 18.4 percent to 1,887 from January through February 2009, compared with 2,312 for the first two months of 2008.
Clapp, who expects a difficult year for home sales, said that the data in his report shows that residential-market conditions are still deteriorating.
"This deterioration results from an oversupply of available homes combined with a decrease in demand caused by rising unemployment and job uncertainty," he said.
Clapp said that the national unemployment rate is increasing and is expected to continue to rise, probably peaking in the third quarter of 2010 about 1½ percent higher than it is was in March at 8.5 percent, based on national forecasts.
He said he expects local and state unemployment rates to follow the national trend.
"In my opinion that is going to cause an adverse impact on demand for housing," Clapp said. "Due to this job uncertainty, people are either going to be out of work and can't buy, or uncertain as to whether they should make a long-term commitment given the fragile nature of the economy and their job status."
Still, he said it is a good time to buy a home, with pricing and the condition of houses as key factors for people trying to sell.
■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.
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