Real Estate Broker Eric Andrews is on the Top Producers Council of the Triangle MLS and in this video goes over the surprising statistics and details of the housing market in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Several records are being set and there is very high demand in Wake, Chatham, Orange County and surrounding areas.
Speaker 1: What are the most recent numbers in the Triangle real estate [crosstalk]?
Speaker 2: I’m a member of the top producer council and the head statistic data guy, Stacy in the Triangle MLS was a presenter at our meeting and some really, really surprising stats. First of all, he said, “Currently, we have 9,000 properties under contract.” Which is, it is more than this time last year, and it’s the most in the last 10 years. Those are incredible stats right now. Another, there was probably some built up buyer frustration because of our shutdown and whatnot, but still those are phenomenal numbers. Stacy also said that this was the least number of price reductions ever in the history of Triangle MLS. What that means is not only are people pricing stuff right, but they’re getting the prices that they want and they’re not dropping their price because demand is so high. He also said there’s a two month supply of inventory right now.
One of the things that we look at in the real estate industry is something called absorption rate. If you have more than a six month supply prices tend to go down. If you have less than a six month supply prices tend to go up. There is an incredible shortage of properties in certain price points. I mean the 150 to 350 is about as tight as it gets, multiple offer situation. Many, many, many agents and buyers that we speak to have spoken about the fact that they’re on their second or third offer without being able to get a property. So they’re coming in very aggressive, they’re coming in over asking price. A lot of the time they are signing addendums to the contract right now that says they will make up the deficiency if the property doesn’t appraise. So the property is at 320, they make an offer of 345.
Well, the agent and the sellers think the property is going to appraise at 320, they sign an addendum and prove that they have 25,000 liquid to make up the deficiency if the property doesn’t appraise. If you’re in a multiple offer situation, that buyer is going to look very attractive. We’re seeing a return in resurgence of notes and letters right now. When people are making offers, they are writing a heartfelt, warm letter about why that house means so much to them. If you’re at the same price and two offers are the same and the seller doesn’t know which one to go for, that letter could make a difference. It might make a difference.
We’re seeing some loosening of lending criteria. I mean, there’s so many people out of work, but the banks were getting pretty strict on who they would let have a loan 620 for an FHA right now, beacon score. A lot of banks had a freeze. They weren’t even doing jumbo loans. They’re doing jumbo loans again. Most people have to put 20% down, but that’s fairly common for a jumbo loan anyways. Jumbo being over 450. We are seeing a little bit of a glut in like the 650, 750, $800,000 market. One of the things that those sellers need to look at is if they really want to move through a home, they might have to take a little bit of a haircut. Then some people that are in that 450, 550 range can see the value of a $700,000 house if it’s priced aggressively. So there is a lot of activity in the market right now.
The other thing that I was very, very pleased to hear is that Triangle MLS usually ignores what we call the ugly step children, Johnston county and Chatham county is just… They’re so concerned about stats with Wake, Durham and Orange, that they tend to ignore us. They said that Johnson county had a huge, huge increase percentage wise in sales and Chatham county was a close second. So very good things happening as far as the real estate market. If you were a seller in particular price points, very good things. There’s a tremendous shortage of inventory. If people think it’s not a good time to sell, this is a really good time to sell as far as getting top dollar or whatever. Buyer right now, there is a shortage of inventory and you’re going to have to be pretty aggressive.
