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Durham, NC - Recent New Home Sales Numbers Suggest Market Rise Slowing.

Posted on: May 06, 2012 09:24:38 AM

The Durham, NC market saw an increase in sales of new homes in February year-over-year, but the increased on a percentage basis less sharlpy than January 2012, showing signs of market stabilization. New home sales increased by 7.3% in February 2012 from a year earlier, after sales saw a 31.4% rise in January from the year earlier.

A total of 1,347 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, up from 1,341 for the year that ended in January.

New home sales as a percentage of overall housing sales fell to 19.2% from 21.8% of sales a year earlier. For new and existing homes, sales jumped year-over-year in February after also increasing in January year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

For newly sold homes, the average price declined 12.8% year-over-year in February to $229,676 per unit. This drop follows a move from $246,167 per unit in January 2011 to $243,845 in January 2012.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size saw a decline year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. It fell 16.1% in February from a year earlier, reaching $185,332. In January 2012, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 5.6% rise year-over-year from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed declined 3.2 percentage points year-over-year to 80.7% in February 2012. This came after a 5.3 percentage point rise in January from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last year while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. Single-family home sales gained from 89.0% of new sales in February 2011 to 95.5% of sales in February 2012. At the same time, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units slid to 4.5% of sales from 11.0% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size sank 11.8% year-over-year to 2,171 square feet in February 2012. In January, the average size of new homes sold went from 2,273 square feet a year earlier to 2,392 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales stayed steady in February from a year earlier, but remained a burden on the market. Foreclosures and REO sales, taken together, represented 40.8% of existing sales, about the same as a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures rose to 26.2% in February from 15.6% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales declined to 14.6% from 24.7% a year earlier.

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