7 Cortona Drive from TMLS. One of Nine Sales in Durham during the Qtr.
Increased Share for Durham in Luxury Market
For the second quarter in a row we observe the odd phenomena of Durham increasing it’s market share of luxury homes sold in the four county area of the Triangle area that I look at that includes Durham, Wake, Orange and Chatham counties. This happened without a significant increase in sales. In fact, Durham County’s luxury home market seems relatively unaffected by the housing bust. The explanation, of course, is that Durham never really had the boom in the $700,000 plus market that other areas of the Triangle did.
Inventory
At the end of the quarter there were 79 $700,000 plus homes listed on the market in Durham County, up form 70 at the end of the year. 18 of these homes were in Hope Valley, 16 in Treyburn, 9 in The Oaks, 7 in Croasdaile, 4 in Maide Verde and 4 in Meadowmont. There were 21 scattered in other neighborhoods and a couple were horse farms in still rural sections of the county. For several years Durham has consistently had two to two and a half years worth of inventory on the market at any one time.
1st Qtr. Sales
The Triangle MLS recorded 9 sales of homes listed at $700,000 or more out of 83 recorded in the four county area. That’s a 10.8% share which is double the average of 5.3% for the preceeding 4 years. At nine sales, however, Durham is on track for 36 annual sales which is just slightly above the average for the last four year. In other words, the market share increase is totally the result of the market decline in the other three counties. At the end of the quarter there was only one other listing showing as under contract and pending but there are three now.
During the quarter Orange had 14 closing and has 27 pending. Wake had 57 closings and 53 pending. Chatham surrendered third place in the rankings to Durham with only 3 closings but still has 9 pending. Of the 9 closings in Durham the sales price compared to the last listing price continued to show weakness. 8 of the 9 declined in price and one increased in price. The average discount was $78K and the largest was over $186K. 4 were $99K or more.
Of the nine sales 5 were in Hope Valley, and there were 1 each in Forest Hills, Maida Verde, Meadowmont, Southpoint Manor and The Oaks. There were no closed sales in Croasdaile or Treyburn during the quarter.
Conclusions
With such a small number of sales it’s hard to call anything a trend. However, it is pretty obvious that Hope Valley is doing better than the other neighborhoods tracked. It is also hard to pinpoint a reason why but several factors probably contribute. Hope Valley has an active neighborhood association and a preservation group trying to preserve the historical character of the neighborhood in street signage and other things.
Secondly, Hope Valley relative proximity to the rivived Durham downtown as an arts and entertainment center for the region could be part of the explanation. Throw in the sale in Forest Hills and six of the nine sales share this characteristic.
Finally, Hope Valley is also in close proximity to the Streets of Southpoint which has the finest shopping in the county and arguably the entire Triange region and probably west and south until you get to Charlotte.
As the economy strengthens progressive sellers will take advantage of these characteristics and promote them aggressively. Only then will Durham’s luxury home market achieve parity with its neighbors to the east and west.
