Residential real estate in the second quarter of 2022 continued to be a strong seller’s market according to the latest report from the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association.
The report states that Greensboro and Guilford County saw some increase in inventory in the second quarter of 2022 (from April through June), but houses continued to sell at above list price and sales prices continued to rise.
In Guilford County it took an average of 12 days to sell a house and in Greensboro 11 days. In Guilford County that represents a 20 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2021 and in Greensboro a 15 percent decrease.
The inventory of houses has increased slightly over the same period last year. In the second quarter of 2021, there was only a 0.8 months supply of inventory in both Greensboro and Guilford County and that has risen to 1.1 month’s supply in 2022. A 1.1 month supply means that if no new homes were put on the market, all of those on the market would be sold in just over a month. In other words, despite some increase in inventory it is still a very tight market.
In Guilford County homes sold at 103.7 percent of list price and in Greensboro it was 104.1 percent, which is up about 2 percent from the first quarter of 2021.
The average sales price for homes increased 18 percent in Greensboro from $295,000 in 2021 to $348,000 during the same period this year.
Townhomes and condos in Guilford County saw similar trends. In Guilford County it took an average of 13 days to sell a townhome or condo. And in Greensboro the townhome and condo market is really hot, with it taking just seven days on average to sell – that’s down nearly 60 percent from 17 days during the second quarter of 2021.
There was also about a 15 percent sales price increase for townhomes and condos in Greensboro going from $199,400 in 2021 to $229,900 in the same period in 2022.
The Realtors Association’s data is suspect. These (much) higher mortgage rates have pushed the national sales numbers down, and lowered home prices. At higher rates, fewer people can qualify for loans, and if they can, they can afford only lower-priced homes. Lower commodity prices (especially lumber), have helped bring construction costs down.
Supply restrictions, labor shortages, and property speculation help keep prices from crashing. I get robocalls almost daily offering cash for my home, but not as many as before.