New-Home Sales Breaking Records In Triangle

Two areas of the Trangle are doing exceptionally better than they were a year ago.

"We're having new neighborhoods spring up, it seems like, every other day," said Clayton real-estate agent Ron Earp.

Home sales are breaking records in Johnston County and all over the Triangle.

Triangle Multiple Listing Service agents closed on more than 3,300 homes in June -- up 540 from May and 954 from last June.

"I've been looking at this stuff for 15 years, and it's the best I've ever seen," real-estate appraiser Stacey Anfindsen said. "You can look at the employment figures and see that our workforce has increased in the Triangle and Wake County, and these people are buying houses."

Johnston and Durham counties lead the way with 22 percent more brand-new home sales in the first six months of this year than the same period last year.

The news is not all rosy. Some agents in Johnston County said that, while the market for brand-new homes is booming, people selling existing homes are having a harder time.

"The existing market concerns me in some respects because of the length of time it's taking to sell," Earp said. "It's taking seven to eight months to sell an existing home."

Earp said the most it takes to sell a new home is three or four months. He predicted existing homes will be more attractive if interest rates go up.

The number of sales is not the only good news for sellers. So is the amount they are getting.

The average price of a home in the Triangle area is up about $14,000 from a year ago -- to more than $172,000.

That means more people are buying townhomes and condos as a necessity rather than a choice. But those prices are up, too.

The average price of a townhouse is about $159,000. The average price of a condo: close to $138,000.