It doesn’t seem possible, but the real estate market in Chatham County is both a buyer’s market and a seller’s market. Right now, there isa scarcity of homes for sale. Whether a home is underpriced or overpriced, there’s a scarcity of inventory right now. Home prices are high, as are monthly payments. Average income in Chatham County is about $60,000. That puts buyers at a $250,000 range. There aren’t any $250,000 homes in Chatham County.
Homes in Chatham, White and Orange Counties are in the $500,000 range, putting families in the $150,000 to $200,000 income range, but there aren’t many families in Chatham County with incomes in that range. That makes it tough on sellers right now.
Another factor is the mortgage interest rate. Many people are loced a 2.5 or 3.0 interest rate. They may not be living in the type of home that they’d like to be living in, but they don’t really want the 7.0 or higher interest rate that comes with buying a new residence. Buyers are rare, so maybe it’s more of a buyer’s market. It might be more of a seller’s market though if somebody is coming from California and sold they home for $1.5 million. What we need though is people moving within our own area. We can’t be completely dependent on people transferring to our area from other locations in the country.
Overall, sales are way down in Chatham County. Some might argue that because of home sales being down, a buyer’s market exists, but prices remain high. Time to contract is averaging 60 days now. Ten years ago, that average time was 10 or 11 days. Average days on the market have also increased to up to 60 days. Although that’s considered to be really quick, it just doesn’t seem as quick as seven to ten days.
