New Bern Home Sales

The week in review

How were sales this past week?

 Slightly better than this time last year but a little slow overall. During this time of the year buyers are on vacation and it is normal for sales to be off. From Monday to Friday 6/24-6/28 there were 32 homes that closed in Craven, Pamlico, and Jones County. This market has not yet experienced the surge in home sales that are being reported by the national media. Below is a list of sales by price range.
$25,900-$100,000=6 sales
$103,500-$150,000=10 sales
$150,500-$200,000=7 sales
$200,500-$250,000=6 sales
$250,500-$300,000=1 sale
$309,900-1 sale
$385,000-1 sale

Have a great 4th and we will continue to work hard to get your home sold.

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.

Fantastic buy in New Bern

Help Wanted!!!!! We have a 4 bedroom home listed for $165,000 in Brices Crossing and I need your help selling it. Fantastic home and a great buy. Creekside Elementary School. 15 minutes from Cherry Point and 12 minutes from downtown New Bern.

Interesting Article on Foreclosures

I have noticed an increase in foreclosures in the local paper lately and was wondering what was going on. According to an article in USA Today, foreclosures in North Carolina jumped 60% from April to May. Nationally, during the same time foreclosures were up 11%. According to the article banks were pulling the trigger quicker on the foreclosure process due to, get this, their perception of a shortage of homes on the market and a rise in home prices. I believe this is true in the larger metropolitan areas but not in the smaller cities.

In May, foreclosure starts were up 4% from April but down 33% from a year earlier. Nationwide, home prices were up 12% in April, year over year. This data comes from RealtyTrac, a source that I believe is usually accurate. 

On the local level, home prices seem to be firming up, but not rising. Interest rates are moving up on both 30 year and 15 year mortgages.  A 30 year mortgage on a $300,000 loan that you could have got a few weeks ago would cost you $1347 a month.  At today's rates the same loan amount would run around $1450, a hundred dollar a month increase.

The moral of this story is to buy now to take advantage of the still historically low rates. You can search the entire New Bern MLS at www.TysonGroup.Info 

New Bern Home Sales by the month

Home Sales this 2013 through 5-31-13

January           2013=84                2012=58         2011=84

February        2013=103              2012=85         2011=83

March           2013=112              2012=110        2011=109

April             2013=129              2012=108         2011=119

May             2013=147              2012=116         2011=116

Looks like 2013 is up every month so far. However, the amount of Bank Owned sold so far this year is up by 55 units compared to last year over the same period. While it looks to me that in general home prices are not decreasing, in my opinion Bank Owned sales will need to start decreasing before we start to see home prices rise in our area.

               

New Bern Waterfront homes for sale.

Waterfront sales up 32% year to date over last year.

Waterfront sales are up 83% over the same period in 2011, thru 6-2,  and 32% over last year, same period. That is great news for folks that have been trying to sell for some time. Many of the metropolitan areas around the country are seeing major improvement in their markets, smaller towns with less diversified economies do not seem to be doing as well.

I have been getting more calls this year for waterfront property than I have in some time about 6 years and this makes me very happy. I am starting to see prices firm up, the bottom may have finally arrived.

So, if you are considering buying a waterfront property I encourage you not to wait to long. Give me a call today at 252 514 9157.