Well the weather outside is [OK, not so] frightful, but our fires are so delightful. Were home sales in Durham as delightful as our Holiday decorations? Let’s take a look.
For all of Durham County there were 2,256 homes listed for sale at the end of November – a drop of about four percent. 136 sales closed in November, an drop of about about 25%. Using November figures, it would take 16.6 months to work through our current inventory which is an increase of four months.
For the 27713 zip code there were 472 homes listed at the end of November – a decline of about three percent. Only 36 homes sold during November, a twenty percent decline. That combination moved the adsorption rate to 13.1 months – an increase of just over two months.
Why the decline? First of all, we lost two business days due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Actually we lost more than that as very few people are
interested in moving close to Thanksgiving. That alone might explain the decline. Normally, I would compare November 2010 numbers to November 2009, but the first-time homebuyers’ credit was set to expire at the end of November 2009, so those numbers aren’t comparable [they are about twice as good as November 2010 for what that is worth]
Here’s the updated neighborhood information.
|
Total Available Listings |
Total Closed Sales |
Adsorption Rate [in months] |
Avg Sale Price |
| Woodcroft |
67 |
8 |
8.4 [-1.9] |
$117,663 96% of list price |
| Hope Valley Farms |
58 |
5 |
11.6 [-9.1] |
$184,900 98% of list price |
| Woodlake |
15 |
1 |
15 |
$209,400 97% of list price |
| Parkwood |
28 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Chancellors Ridge |
16 |
1 |
16 [+12.5] |
$310,000 95% of list price |
| Wynterfield |
15 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Grandale |
4 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Audubon Park |
9 |
1 |
9.0 |
$194,000 97% of list price |
| Colvard Farms |
14 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
Woodcroft was the star this month with almost double the sales of any other neighborhood for the second month in a row. Hope Valley Farms held up its part of the “Big 3″ in November, but Parkwood dropped that ball by having no closed sales at all . Colvard Farms had a second month of no sales at all with several other neighborhoods keeping it company
Neighborhoods to watch: The Hills at Southpoint had four sales in November
What’s in the crystal ball for December? Last December saw sales numbers close to the number we had for November 2010, so I would expect our numbers for this December to be little changed from November. After all, Christmas takes as big a chunk out of the closing schedule as Thanksgiving does. I would expect to see stable overall sales with wide variations at the neighborhood level — just like in November. It won’t be the best ending to a year, but it will give us something to take into 2011.
If your house is like the BCRE house, New Year’s Day is the day when ornaments come down from the tree and we figure out what to do with the old dried up thing. If you are a Durham resident, here is the last work on Christmas tree removal straight from the city itself.
