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Haywood County Flood Relief
As many of you know, we had some terrible flash flooding in the Cruso, Lake Logan, Bethel and Canton areas of the county from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred. It seems the storm caused a literal cloudburst in the Cold Mountain, Shining Rock areas which ran downstream and caused severe damage along the forks of the Pigeon River. Six residents lost their lives, many lost their homes and cars. Structural damage to roads and bridges was severe. The flooding actually damaged many homes and structures not typically associated with being in a flood-prone area.
So many volunteers have come forward to help donating their time, labor, and money. Many churches and community service organizations have gone above and beyond to help. Our own Canopy Realtors® Association and our Canopy MLS have jointly donated $400,000 for flood relief helping those in need.
It has been amazing to see everyone come together to help those in need. We truly live in an area of not just natural beauty, but of beautiful people also.
The State of Our Market
This week I will briefly discuss some market statistics regarding the sale of homes in Haywood County, NC. (The Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Clyde and Canton areas)
According to Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors®, vacation home sales rose 57% this year compared to 2020. This was attributed to flexible work options offered by many companies allowing employees to work from home. A second reason may be urban residents fleeing urban areas due to the pandemic. Whatever the reason, shortly after the pandemic began, buyers began buying vacation properties. Of course our beautiful mountains brought lots of buyers our way; many purchasing with cash.
As a result of this influx of buyers two things happened. Prices went up and the inventory of available homes went down. The county-wide average sales price in July 2020 was $283,008. By July 2021 this average sales price had jumped to $333,394.
Our inventory of homes for sale in July 2020 was 369. By July 2021 our inventory of homes for sale dropped to 241.
A four to five months supply of homes is considered an average or neutral market. In July 2020 we only had a 3.7 months supply of homes on the market. By July 2021 this had dropped to a 1.9 months supply of homes on the market. This is considered a “sellers’ market”, which explains the almost 18% increase in the average home sales price from July 2020 to July 2021.
If you are looking for that special vacation home, full-time home, or summer home, come on up to the mountains and let us help you. If you don’t want to purchase a home right now, give some consideration to purchasing a home site to build on. Prices for home sites and acreage have not increased like home prices. Now may be the opportune time to purchase that home site, and build later. We’ll be here waiting for you.
Meet Brittany Heathman
Many of you know Paul Heathman, who owns Mountain Dreams Realty. Brittany is Paul’s daughter and one of our newest agents. Brittany is a natural for our office as she has “real estate in her blood”. She does a very informative mailer weekly. For this week’s blog, I have posted a link below to her most recent email titled Smoky Mountain Market Report. Please enjoy!
National Real Estate Trends
I thought I would take a moment to touch on some of the real estate trends that are occurring not just here in the mountains, but all across our nation.
Remote workers (or digital workers as some are called) are renting AirBnB or VRBO vacation homes so they can still work while on vacation. Remote computer work and meetings on Zoom gives these workers the flexibility to work from any location. This seems to have been one of the reasons vacation rentals have been and continue to be so popular.
The median price of homes sold nationally has reached $341,600. This represents a new record price for the median home sale.
8 of 10 homes sold in the last 6 months sold at or above the listing price. Offers below the listing price are unlikely to be competitive in the current market.
Homeowners saw a nearly 20% jump in their home equity in the last 12 months. (Equity is what your home is worth on the current market minus any mortgage you may have.)
Lumber prices have increased more than 200% over the last 12 months. Some good news though, futures prices for July deliveries dropped to $1158 per thousand board feet. That is down 30% from the record high of $1711 per thousand board feet on May 10th. Hopefully builders will begin building new homes again, as many builders have been waiting on material prices to decrease.
Our homes are getting older. The average age of a home in this nation has risen to almost 40 years. This is due to the decreases in new home sales in the last few years.
If you are looking for a home in the mountains, or that special piece of land for your dream home, please let us know. We can help.
Potential Foreclosures Fears are Fading
Due to the amount of home mortgages that were in pandemic-related moratoriums, many analysts predicted a glut of foreclosure homes when the moratoriums ended on June 30th. However, several large banks have reported that most clients have already exited those programs and began paying their mortgage payments again. JP Morgan reported that about 90% of their customers who were in the forbearance programs have now exited those programs. Also some banks indicated they have their own programs to help clients who still have difficulty with mortgage payments due to Covid-19 related issues. So, it would appear there is to be no glut of foreclosure homes coming on the market anytime soon.\
Inventories of homes available for sale continue to be extremely low. This is causing prices to maintain their current high levels. Also, the cost of building a new home has increased considerably due to the increase in raw materials pricing, and the local shortages of construction laborers. There is some light at the end of the supply tunnel, as homeowners who have been reluctant to list their homes for sale due to the pandemic are now encouraged to do so since the vaccination rate has increased, and infection rates have come down.
In our area here in Western North Carolina, inventories of homes for sale remain low. If a well-kept home comes on the market now, it often has multiple offers within a few days of listing. Some out-of-area buyers are making offers on homes without seeing them, as they fear the home will be sold before they could get to the area.
Some advice to buyers: If you are looking to purchase a home in our area, please be pre-approved for a mortgage, or have a “proof of funds” letter from your bank or brokerage company before you come here to buy. Also, be prepared to put due diligence money upfront, as this indicates you are a serious buyer.
Please, if you have any questions about homes in our area, let us know. We can help.
April Home Sales Stats for Haywood County
April home sales rose again in Haywood County. (Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Clyde, Canton and surrounding area) Closed sales for the county in April increased from 91 last year to 109 this year. Pending sales increase from 71 last year to 162 this year, a 128% increase. The average sales price last year was $271,731. This year the average sales price increased 29% to $350,842. Also last year a home was selling for 93% of the listing price on average; this year in April, homes sold for 99% of the listing price.
In April of last year we had 392 homes for sale in the county. This year we only have an inventory of 187 homes, a 52% decrease in inventory. This means at current sales rates, we only have a 1.5 months supply of inventory. The low inventories are continuing to drive home prices upward.
With inventories so thin, we really need homes to list for sale. We are still offering our “listing special” for a limited time. Please see below, and thank you!
Summer Vacation Rentals are Skyrocketing
Since many of our buyers in this area rent their homes for vacation rentals, I though the below article may be of interest. This article appeared recently in Realtor® Magazine:
As vaccination rates rise, many states are loosening restrictions on travelers, prompting some Americans to look for homes to book for this summer. Short-term vacation rentals are seeing a surge in demand and their owners are prepared for a lively summer.
“This is probably contradictory to what a lot of people may think, but it’s really one of the most exciting times in the industry right now,” Carrington Carter, the co-founder and managing partner of Getaway Society, a luxury vacation rentals company, told The New York Times.
By the end of March, 90% of vacation homes listed on Vrbo for the Jersey Shore and Cape Cod in Massachusetts were already booked for July, The New York Times reports. Vacasa, a vacation rental company, reports the company expects to generate more than $1.25 billion in gross bookings in 2021, which would mark an all-time high—about double that of pre-pandemic levels from 2019, CNBC reports.
Demand is tight, particularly as more second-home buyers choose to live in those homes rather than rent them out. “With the flexibility of remote work, owners are finding that they have more time to enjoy their second homes and are renting them less, or not at all,” Carter told The New York Times. “This reduction in the supply of available homes to rent, coupled with increasing demand, are also factors that are driving rate increases in destinations across the country.”
Airbnb vacation rentals nationwide in July and August are expected to average around $220 compared to last year’s $194 and $185 in 2019, according to Transparent, a vacation rentals data company.
Demand is growing for all types of housing, from large houses to studios and one-bedrooms.
Also, property owners are reporting that more guests want to stay more than just a few days, with some opting to stay multiple weeks. “We’re seeing an emerging trend of ‘slow travel,’ with travelers wanting to spend more time immersing themselves in a destination than they did pre-pandemic,” Mahendra Roopa, HometoGo’s director of product, told The New York Times.
If you are interested in purchasing a home in our area for vacation rental, come see us. We can help!
March 2021 Sales Stats
The home sales market in Western North Carolina is still a very heated market. As the inventory of homes on the market shrinks, sales prices rise. (The old law of Supply and Demand) I have many customers asking about sales statistics, so here is a brief recap of our current market.
In March 2021 we sold 115 homes, which was a 29% increase over March 2020.
The average sales price in March 2021 was $355,654, which was a 29% increase over March 2020.
The median sales price in March 2021 was $315,000, which was almost 30% higher than March 2020.
The number of homes on the market in March 2021 was 174, compared to 402 homes for sale in March 2020. This means that in March 2020 we had a 4.1 months supply of homes on the market. In March 2021 that number had dropped to 1.5 months of inventory. In other words, if sales rates remained the same, and no additional homes came on the market, we would have zero homes to sell in 1.5 months.
Our MLS covers from Charlotte, NC, all the way into Western NC. In the Charlotte region, the current months of supply is only .6 months, or about 18 days of supply.
I have been a Realtor® for 16 years, but have never seen a market this heated. If a home comes on the market that you would like to see, please call us. If you wait till next week, or even wait a few days, that home may be under contract. If you are planning on purchasing a home with a mortgage, talk to your bank or lender right now and get a preapproval letter, or at least a pre-qualification letter from your lender. Many sellers will not even consider an offer without these letters. If you have any additional questions not covered here, please call us. We can help.
Introducing Discounted Brokerage Fees
Due to high rates of home sales, combined with low inventories of homes on the market, your home may be worth more than you think.
We are now offering discounted brokerage fees for a limited time in hopes of listing more homes on the market. We are mailing postcards to many local communities. The body of the postcard is below. If you are considering selling your home, now is a great time! Not only is the market very hot, but you could also save thousands with our limited time program. Please call us for details.
Our Professionals:
Paul Heathman 828-421-3655
Danny Pugh 828-734-1120
Lyndia Massey 828-400-0282
Jess Osborn 828-506-1960
Shirley Cole 828-506-2022
Carey Rich 828-400-3037
Brittany Heathman 865-223-3077
Office Number 828-926-0400
