Local Real Estate Market Shows Improvement
Author: Josh Humphries
Posted with permission from The (Greenville, NC) Daily Reflector
Pitt County's real estate market is holding steady and showing some slight improvements over last year.
Average sales prices and sales totals are up slightly for single- family residences this year. For multi-family residences, prices are down slightly but sales are up by 7 percent.
Total sales for single-family homes are up 13 percent.
“This year we have made a slight increase over last year and our market is fairly steady,” said Barbara Briley, president of the Greenville-Pitt Association of Realtors.
Briley said the gradual improvement is on track with the rest of the economy. Though Pitt County's real estate market did not take the hit that some other areas of the country took, sales this year are way below totals from 2007 before the recession.
“I think we are going to see a gradual improvement unless something unforeseen happens in the economy,” Briley said. “People still want to buy houses and interest rates are at an all-time low.”
Pitt County hasn't seen nearly as many foreclosures as some parts of the country where the real estate market is booming right now as investors are buying homes well below market value. The county is on track this year to have about as many foreclosures as it has had over the last decade.
“We are not as depressed as some areas of the country and we are not thriving on the foreclosure market like in Las Vegas and Florida where buyers are picking up properties for a steal,” Briley said. “Those places have so many foreclosures and so many properties on the market.”
Briley said Pitt County's housing market will recover as the job market recovers.
“If someone feels that their job is in jeopardy they will not buy a house,” she said.
Briley said houses in the medium price range are selling better than houses in the high price range. New inventory is down due to less construction across the board, but particularly in the high price range, she said.
The average sales price for new single-family homes is up 2 percent, from $205,735 in 2009 to $210,633 in 2010 and sales have increased from 210 at this time last year to 217 so far this year.
Sales are down 23 percent for new multi-family homes from 124 sales in 2009 to 95 sales this year. Briley said contractors are not building as many multi-family homes and inventory is currently low. The average price for a new multi-family home has increased from $119,775 to $122,576.
Briley said there are a lot of homes on the market in the price range of $200,000. That medium range is where most of the inventory is and where most of the sales are.
Sales of existing homes continue to outpace new homes because of the major construction slow down.
“Hopefully, as things improve we will see builders starting more new homes,” Briley said. “I think we will see a gradual improvement, nothing over night.”
Contact Josh Humphries at jhumphries@reflector.com or (252) 329-9565.
