Triangle home sales rise 10 percent in Q3

“The Triangle housing market continued to shown strong sales activity in the third quarter, with sales increasing 10 percent compared with the same period a year ago….

Sales were up 12 percent in September and are up 10 percent through the first nine months of the year, as buyers crowd the market despite the ongoing decline in the number of homes for sale in the region….

New home listings increased 13 percent compared with the third quarter last year, while existing home listings fell 17 percent….

The double-digit sales increases this year are particularly noteworthy given that the rate of sales continues to outpace the region’s annual job growth rate, which has been hovering around 3 percent. Historically, those two figures have been closely aligned….

The numbers likely reflect the influx of new residents into the Triangle, particularly retirees, said Stacey Anfindsen, a Cary appraiser who analyzes MLS data….

More confounding, said Anfindsen, is that the vast majority of sellers continue to pay concessions – such as a portion of the closing costs – to buyers despite the lack of supply. Sellers paid concessions on nearly 70 percent of the transactions completed in the third quarter….

“It just becomes part of the negotiating mindset of buyers unless it’s a multiple offer situation,” he said. “In every other transaction concessions essentially are being paid.”

The lack of supply is helping boost prices and reduce the amount of time it takes for many people to sell their home….” excerpts from the The News&Observer article.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article38806854.html