Wilmington Area MLS report March 2011

March 2011 MLS Report

We still have a lot of turmoil in the world, the European debt crisis, political unrest in the Middle East and the catastrophic events in Japan. Our economy is showing some signs of improvement, the unemployment numbers took another tick down and employment numbers have taken a tick upward.

March proved to be the month we needed in our area for Real Estate sales, our numbers have started to move in the right direction. We got a real kick start in March:

Average Sold Price $242,883 Change +22.3% Month over month
Sold Units 410 Change +141 Month over month
Inventory Supply 11.8 Months Change -32.2% Month over month
Average Days on Market 158
Listing Inventory 4847
List to Sold Price Ratio 93.3%


In March we saw our traditional increase in listing inventory by 149 units from last month. We are about 730 units under April 1, 2010. We have 4,847 single family homes for sale in our MLS. The average list price of $345,884 is up by $3,760 from last month. This is the first month we have seen an average listing price increase since May 2010.

Monthly Average Sold Price – this was a big month! March average sold price ($242,883) shows an increase of 5.4% from year end 2010. You have to go back to March 2007 to find an average sales price of $260,556. What a great month.

Monthly Sold Units With a great average sold price for the month of March unit sales were to follow –
We are 141 sold units ahead of February 2011 sold homes of $44,281.00 from last month and up 22.3% from February 2011. $22,996 from March 2010 and up $26,698 from March 2009 and up $6,241 from March 2008.

Rolling 12 months Our rolling 12 months gives us a better look at our production. It helps to smooth out a month that jumps up and down.
Rolling 12 months for average sold price -
4/1/2010 to 3/31/2011 average sold price of $229,106
4/1/2009 to 3/31/2010 average sold price $234,686.

Median Sold Price 
Our national numbers lag by one month. Our median sales price continues its jagged path – up then down then up and now the last two months. This spring I hope we see a steady climb. On a National scale the economy is trying to improve and hopefully we can see this in the national median sales. I am concerned that NAR Median sales price continues to slide.

Pending Pending Sales – A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not yet closed. Sales are typically finalized within one to two months from signing.
Our pending index has dropped to our low point during the winter. In December we bottomed out about 575 units, we have since rebounded ad have over 782 units that are pending – this is a is 36.0% increase since the end of 2010.

Market Absorption rate
The number of homes sold in March, 410 divided by the current listing inventory, 4,847 gives us an –
List to Sold price ratio
The average list price of the sold properties is $260,301 and the average sold price is $242,883 for March which gives us a – 93.3% list to sold price ratio – a decrease from last month. We have now managed to stay under 95% for over a year and several months. I want to quit counting the number of months and get this trend reversed. This is one of the lowest ratio’s we have had in a while.

Seller Concessions – We had 30.5% of sold properties report a sales concession for March, an increase of 3.0%. We want this number to go lower.

Days on Market

Carolina Beach and Kure Beach There are currently 396 single family homes for sale and this represents little change from March 1, 2011 and 8.2% of our total WRAR inventory. The average list price is $381,621 an increase of about $211.00 from March. In March there were 34 homes sold, divide that by the homes available and you have a 11.64 monthly supply of homes in Carolina and Kure Beach – the best we have had in a long time. The average sold price for the month of March was $349,912 and is up $83,279 from last month. When we look at a rolling 12 months for Carolina Beach and Kure Beach we are up by 75 units and our sold prices are down 3.2% from the previous rolling 12 months.
This data was pulled on April 11, 2011, based on information from the Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS Incorporated, for the period Jan. 1, 2005 through March 31, 2011. . – The average days on market for the sold properties is now at 158 for March – almost a 20 day increase over last month. That is about 5 months to keep a property on the market. Only 8.8% of the properties were placed under contract in less than 15 days for the month of February. 388 homes 340 homes 411 homes. st, 2010 to March 31st, 2011 we have 4,582 sold units st, 2009 to March 31st, 2010 we have a 42 unit gain (4,540 sold units). 2.9%. 5.8% from last month. 11.8 month supply of single family homes. This decreased by 7 months from last month. We need to keep this inventory under 12 months supply. This is the first time under 12 months since July 2010.
Listing Inventory