Elizabeth Pattman: Times-News
The housing market across the country is more competitive than ever before and Alamance County is no exception.
Local realtors say they’ve never seen anything like it.
“I’ve been doing this for 23 years,” Cindy Dudley with the Dudley Realty Group said. “This is the craziest market. We’ve never seen a market like this.”
Bill Sargeson with Allen Tate Realtors echoed similar thoughts, calling the market “unprecedented” and “incredibly competitive.”
In early 2020 as the pandemic settled into the US, home sales dropped nearly 40 percent, according to HouseCanary, a real estate technology and analytics company. By May, though, sales had started to recover as many took advantage of the extremely low mortgage rates available.
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What’s creating the competition?
Dudley said she believes the local spike in the market is caused by two big factors: people moving into North Carolina and people taking advantage of record-low mortgage rates.
“A lot of people are moving to North Carolina and trying to get out of up north. We’ve got a great interstate system and Alamance County is like in the middle of everything. If you live here, you can get to a lot of places in an hour,” she said.
How are these factors affecting the market?
As demand spiked, inventory couldn’t keep up.
As of Monday, April 5, there were 52 single-family homes and 17 townhomes for sale in Alamance County, according to Dudley. Only two of those homes are listed under $100,000 and only nine between $100,000 and $200,000, which typically appeal to first-time buyers.
“In a normal market, its 500 to 700 homes. In a buyer’s market its 1,200,” she said. “Last year at this week, we had 175 single-family homes … and 34 townhomes.
Elizabeth Pattman is the trending topics reporter for the Times-News in Burlington, covering business, COVID-19 and all things trending. Contact Elizabeth (she/her) at [email protected] I’m also available on social media @EPattmanTN on Twitter or @burlingtontimesnews on Instagram.
