Home Sales in the New Bern Market

Home Sales Year to Date in the New Bern Area

Well the year is almost 1/2 over, so how are sales? Well, lets take a look.

Currently there are 1536 residential homes for sale in our MLS. There were 1367 homes sold in the past year so this data would suggest it is still a strong buyers market in New Bern. However, it seems to me that the Real Estate market is firming up and that home prices seem to have bottomed out. I think the worst is behind us.

I work with a lot of clients from other states and many of them are telling me the market is recovering in their area and that it is not unusual to see multiple offers on homes for sale. I hear this mainly from clients coming from larger metropolitan areas such as Raleigh and the DC areas.  The ability of these areas to create high paying jobs and along with jobs, home buyers, far exceeds our ability in rural Eastern NC. With that said, many of the larger metropolitan areas are seeing home prices rising.

To date, there have been 651 home sales in Craven, Jones and Pamlico County. This compares to 584 in 2012, 586 in 2011, 599 in 2010, and 521 in 2009. Looks like we are heading in the right direction for the most part, however, we need to factor in Bank Owned sales.

 Bank Owned sales from January 1-June 23.
2009=38
2010=69
2011=127
2012=108
2013=155

I read in USA today that banks were unloading more homes that were in default because they they believe they can get more for their money now than perhaps they could have 6 months ago and therefore were not so quick to start the foreclosure proceedings on delinquent loans. What ever the reason, these Bank Owned properties are competing with other homes and help keep prices from rising. Until they cycle through the system and we get back to normal number of foreclosures it will be tough for home prices to rise.

To sell your property you need a Top Agent that can give you the competitive advantage. This is not a market to pick your best friends cousin to represent you.