Triangle home sales trending upward

Home sales from January to April were up 11.9 percent from the same time last year, with 6,355 closed sales, according to data from Triangle MLS. During the same time period last year, that number was 5,679.

Three core counties in the Triangle saw home sales increase. Sales were up 18.7 percent in Durham County, 17.8 percent in Wake County and 3.8 percent in Johnston County.

After years of slow sales and falling prices, Pamela Andrejev, a broker with Re/Max Hometown said the market has begun to turn.

"There's been a big change from, I would say, February to now," Andrejev said. "My business has increased 50 percent."

Ceil Thomas is among the Triangle's newest residents. She and her husband moved to the area from Michigan, an experience she said was good overall. "I see it as a dream home," she said.

For those in the market to sell a home, the news is also good. 

"You are just not finding the bargains that used to be out there," Andrejev said. The average price of a home in Wake County is up about two percent, or $6,000, from this time last year.

Amber Williams sold her home off Durant Road in 11 days.

Her broker, Irene Higginson, with Allen Tate Real Estate, says sellers are listening more to real estate agents than they did in the past, which is part of the reason more homes are going off the market.

"I have sold more in the last six months … than I have respectively in the last two years," Higginson said.

Real estate agents also say banks have made it a little less difficult to get mortgages recently, which also is helping add to the number of homes being sold.