July 2010: A 'Before and After' of the Beaufort Co. housing market | Eastern North Carolina Now

    For the July 2010 Market Report I decided to shift focus from the national real estate market to the local market. I zoomed-in on Beaufort County, divided the county by area, and took unique snapshots of market activity compiled for each area during the 22 months leading up to the Sept. 2008 market collapse, and the 22 months following it.

    The data confirmed national trends. Nationally and locally, since the collapse, market volume has increased, the number of days a home sits on the market has increased, sales prices have decreased, the volume of homes that make it to closing has decreased and the number of conventional loans being approved has decreased. The one slightly surprising exception to these trends was an increase in the average sales price from--$152,086 to $166,837--among homes sold in the Washington/Washington Park area during the past 22 months, when compared with the 22 month period prior to the collapse.

    It is worthwhile to note that the data, made available through the Realtors' Multiple Listing Service, only includes homes listed by Realtors. It does not include For Sale By Owner homes, or foreclosures. If the sales prices of foreclosures were averaged into the Washington/Washington Park price pool, the reported average sales price of homes in the area would be much lower.

    Furthermore, since the volume of new listings and the average sales price both increased in the Washington/Washington Park area, one would expect the 'total sold dollar volume' to increase, as well. Instead, the 'total sold dollar volume' decreased from $58,248,841 to $45,045,912. This can only mean that many of those new listings never made it through closing. Rather than selling cheap, many homeowners either decided to let their listings expire, or default and go into foreclosure.

    Otherwise, the data compiled speaks for itself. Take a look at this panoramic view of the Beaufort County real-estate market, before and after the Sept. 2008 collapse:


Washington/Washington Park market activity

11/01/2006 - 09/01/2008

379 - number of new listings
165 - average days on the market
$140,000 - median sold price
$152,086 - average sold price
$58,248,841 - total sold dollar volume

09/01/2008 - 07/01/2010

550 - number of new listings
220 - average days on the market
$139,700 - median sold price
$166,837 - average sold price
$45,045,912 - total sold dollar volume

Bath/Belhaven market activity

11/01/2006 - 09/01/2008

114 - number of new listings
143 - average days on the market
$245,000 - median sold price
$225,731 - average sold price
$27,313,412 - total sold dollar volume

09/01/2008 - 07/01/2010

245 - number of new listings
220 - average days on the market
$207,000 - median sold price
$209,689 - average sold price
$18,033,273 - total sold dollar volume

Chocowinity market activity

11/01/2006 - 09/01/2008

72 - number of new listings
124 - average days on the market
$230,900 - median sold price
$259,046 - average sold price
$16,578,950 - total sold dollar volume

09/01/2008 - 07/01/2010

140 - number of new listings
253 - average days on the market
$184,399 - median sold price
$212,529 - average sold price
$11,051,487 - total sold dollar volume

Blount's Creek market activity

11/01/2006 - 09/01/2008

26 - number of new listings
115 - average days on the market
$118,500 - median sold price
$147,497 - average sold price
$3,244,397 - total sold dollar volume

09/01/2008 - 07/01/2010

31 - number of new listings
259 - average days on the market
$109,000 - median sold price
$180,082 - average sold price
$1,980,900 - total sold dollar volume

Aurora market activity

11/01/2006 - 09/01/2008

21 - number of new listings
152 - average days on the market
$44,250 - median sold price
$79,017 - average sold price
$1,422,300 - total sold dollar volume

09/01/2008 - 07/01/2010

36 - number of new listings
179 - average days on the market
$94,450 - median sold price
$123,636 - average sold price
$1,730,900 - total sold dollar volume