We have been looking week to week concerning our local real estate market. Now it is time for the more comprehensive update. The data is collected from our local Canopy MLS. Now that the Covid 19 crisis has had a full month run in real estate it is important to examine our Greater Asheville region, which includes Burke, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey.
Canopy’s April report stated: “Year-over-year sales declined 14.5 percent in April 2020 across the 13 counties, with 737 homes sold. Compared to March 2020, sales were down 12.1 percent. Year-to-date figures for 2020 show the Asheville region with sales still positive and up 6.9 percent compared to sales during the first four months of 2019.
Pending contracts, the metric that indicates buyer demand, declined 21.3 percent year over- year with 840 contracts written in April, while new listing activity had a deeper decline with listings down 43.9 percent year-over-year with 936 homes listed. There were 1,667 homes listed for sale during the same time last year. Prices across the region increased, with both the median sales price ($266,500) and the average sales price ($315,167) rising 4.5 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.
The Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had year-over-year sales decline 20.9 percent in April 2020 with 483 homes sold compared to 611 last year. However, sales during the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year rose 4.8 percent with 2,099 properties sold. Stay at home orders forced buyers to the sidelines as pending contract activity fell 27.3 percent year-over-year in April; while new listings had an even sharper decline of 41.3 percent year-over-year. As inventory continued to fall (down 24.7 percent year-over-year at report time), prices rose in April, responding to seller’s market conditions that have been prevalent for the past few years. Both the median sales price ($294,500) and the average sales price ($341,129) rose 6.7 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. Homes averaged 69 days on market in April and the MSA has 3.3 months of supply of homes for sale at report time.
Buncombe County
Buncombe County, with its stronger stay at home order, saw sales decline 27.8 percent year-over-year as 236 homes were sold in April 2020 compared to 327 sold last April. Year-to-date sales show the county’s sales up 3.5 percent compared to sales during the first four months of last year. Both pending contract activity and new listings activity had sharp declines in activity year-over-year, with pending sales falling 30.2 percent and new listings down 39.5 percent. Prices continued to rise in response to seller’s market conditions. Both the median sales price ($309,000) and the average sales price ($373,598) increased slightly, up 1.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Inventory was down 23.8 percent year-over-year in April, leaving the county with 3.2 months supply of homes for sale. Homes sold quickly during the month, as days on market averaged 51 days in April 2020 compared to 61 days in April 2019.
Haywood County
Sales in Haywood County fell 9.8 percent year-over-year with 92 homes sold during the month compared to 102 homes sold last April. However, year-to-date figures show sales up 14.3 percent compared to the first four months of last year. Pending sales declined 18.4 percent year-over-year in April with 80 contracts written, while new listing activity was nearly half of what it was last year, falling 48.4 percent with 81 homes listed for sale compared to 157 last year. Prices increased modestly year-over-year with the median sales price ($225,000) and the average sales price ($268,807) rising 1.1 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Inventory was down 25.3 percent year-over-year with 348 homes on market or 3.6 months of supply. There was no change year-over-year in days on market, which averaged 95 days in April.
Henderson County
Henderson County’s sales were down 15.2 percent year-over-year in April 2020, with 140 homes sold compared to 165 homes sold during April 2019. Year-to-date figures show sales still positive and up 2.9 percent over sales during the first four months of last year. Pending contract activity declined 24.4 percent year-over-year with 146 contracts in the pipeline compared to 193 contracts written last year. New listings also declined 40.2 percent year-over-year, with only 174 listings added to the market compared to 291 that were listed last year. Prices rose sharply as inventory declined 27.4 percent yea over-year, leaving 515 homes for sale at report time. The median sales price of $316,950 increased 13.2 percent compared to last year, while the average sales price of $341,941 rose 14.7 percent over last year. Days on market averaged 67 days in April compared to 72 days on market a year ago, and the county had 3.0 months of supply of homes for sale at report time.
Madison County
In Madison County sales were down 11.8 percent year-over-year in April 2020 with 15 homes sold, while year-to-date figures show sales are up 1.8 percent with 57 homes 3 sold compared to 56 homes sold during the first four months of 2019. Pending sales, which only totaled 12 in April, fell 36.8 percent year-over-year, while new listing activity declined 47.7 percent year-over-year with just 23 homes newly listed compared to 44 last April. Both the median ($228,500) and the average ($266,293) sales prices rose 69.3 percent and 54.8 percent year-over-year in April, respectively. Madison County is a buyer’s market with 7.4 months of supply and 137 homes for sale compared to 171 homes for sales in April 2019. Properties averaged 212 days on market in April compared to 73 days this time last year.”
The city of Asheville usually has the larger percentage of price point and numbers in the region. New listings were down for the month of April and with that so is the inventory. Therefor the average list price continues to climb in Asheville city limits.
The city of Hendersonville saw a 14.7% increase in the closed prices, in the month of April.
If you would like the pdf reports which includes charts and graphs for all of the great Asheville region, please email me.
Please watch this video for my interpretation and predictions of our local real estate market.
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