Durham Homes Sales Up in May

 The Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) reports that the Durham Home Sales were up 38% this month compared to the same time last year. As can be seen on the chart below, this continues a positive trend that began in January and continues to accelerate. The Durham market performed better than the region as a whole (up 26%). The median sales price of a home increased by $2,250 from a year ago to $177,250 with the average price of a home at $197,639 (3.5% increase). The days on the market have gone down by 9 from 120 to 111. Finally, in another crucial detail, the months supply of inventory is sharply down from 11.2 months in 2011 to 7.2 months now, a decrease of 35.8%. 

The full breakdown is  embedded after the break

Durham County Home Sales on the upswing

Last month's Triangle MLS report shows that a very promising upward trend in the home sales in Durham County. According to the report (embedded after the break), April saw double-digit increases in closings and a slight increase in new listings compared to the same time in 2011. While we are by no means back to normal, it looks like the Durham County is starting to come back from the deep crisis it had experienced in the past couple of years.

In other encouraging news, the percentage of original price received has gone up while the days on the market have gone down. From a pricing standpoint, however, the median sales price continues to fall, which is probably what is driving some of the upswing.

What is the Best Time to Sell Your House?

I think it is common wisdom that Spring is a good time to sell your house. Your realtors certainly think this way as evidenced by a sprouting of for-sale signs in our neighborhood every March/April. According to the folks at Trulia Trends, however,  the optimal time to sell your house varies depending on which region of the country you live in. While nationally prices peak in May, in our region, for example, the best time to sell is   earlier -- around March/April - this is when the prices peak and sellers can get the top dollar for their homes.

Read the entire analysis here, it is a fascinating read.

The Rumors Are True: Harris Teeter is Coming to Ninth Street (updated)

After the closing of George's Garage in 2009, the former site languished as the rumor mill swirled. What was known at the time was that the developers,Terry Sanford Jr. and Clay Hammer, had grand designs for the space, including a wholesale redevelopment of the property. But in the wake of the financial crisis these plans did not materialize, and the former site of the restaurant sat vacant and unused. One persistent rumor (aside from an amusing episode when the neighborhood listservs lit up at the prankster's mention of Hooters coming to that location) was that a new Harris Teeter was going to take up the space.

With the spate of new development in the area, it appears the coming of Harris Teeter to Ninth Street is now imminent, at least judging by a large sign erected behind the former George's Garage's building on the corner of W. Markham and Ninth Street. Little else is known beyond that:  the square footage of the new store, whether the old building is going to be razed and -- if so -- how this new development is going to be integrated into the existing cityscape of Ninth Street.

**UPDATE: OWD neighbors indicate that the new Harris Teeter is going to be around 48,000 square feet and will feature exactly the same floor plan as the other Harris Teeter in Durham at Willowhaven Shopping Center.  It is an ugly, car-orinted building, just as I had feared. Far more preferable, although apparently not likely, is the urban design of the new Harris Teeter on Jenkins Row (Potomac), in Washington DC, a rapidly gentrifying community to the South East of the Capital.

Harris Teeter on 1505 Horton Road in Durham

Harris Teeter in Washington, DC

Likely location of our new Harris Teeter

As Reyn Bowman points out in his excellent piece on the dangers of Harris Teeter in this location, large chain grocery store with its car-centric culture and parking-lot oriented architecture is hardly the best tenant for  "a funky, gritty, organic, indigenous district." Not only the typical square footage of Harris Teeter far exceeds that of any other Ninth Street business, but, as Reyon correctly notes, the corporatization of Ninth Street can take away much of its charm and uniqueness. Let's hope that the developers are conscious of the unique character of this neighborhood and design a store that fits the mold of Ninth Street rather than attempts to change it into a bland version of Erwin Terrace.

Circle Nine Breaks Ground - lots of other development to come to Ninth Street soon

Crescent Resources, a real-estate development company that, on December 5, has purchased a a six-acre site adjacent to Ninth Street and the historic Erwin Mill building has finally broken ground on Circle Nine, an upscale 303 apartment complex designed to meet meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements from the U.S. Green Building Council. Instead of one contiguous building, Circle nine will consist of several four-story building, allowing for a number of community space, including a park, pool, and fitness courtyard. For a complete description of the project, read here.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/22/4283200/crescent-resources-celebrates.html#storylink=cpy

As described in the Triangle Business Journal article from a few months ago, the influx of new construction in and around Ninth Street area represents the first major development since the early 1990 when the Erwin Square Plaza and the adjacent apartment complex were built. In addition to Circle Nine, a new Hilton Garden Inn Hotel is in the development pipeline of Olympia Properties, a Maine-basde developer. This hotel will be facing Main Street, with Circle Nine Apartments immediately behind it (see the map below)

Perhaps relatedly -- and I will cover this in a separate post later this week -- a new Harris Teeter  is coming to the building formerly occupied by George's Garage.

 Here is what the construction site looks like today.

The full press release is after the break. 

Durham County Real Estate Market Still Lagging

Despite several months of good news about the economy, the Triangle real estate market continues to lag, with both prices and sales of homes falling. To the extent there is any silver lining in this, it is that the Durham County is doing less poorly than either Orange or Wake countries insofar as the percentage of decreases is concerned. Triangle MLS, Inc., a local real-estate tracking firm, has excellent summaries of the state of the market, broken down by county and month on their website.

The depressing news is encapsulated well by the graph below.

But no all is lost! When looking at some long-term trends, the folks at Trulia Insight, a data-crunching arm of the real-estate powerhouse, came up with this fascinating infographic of people who are searching for housing across state lines. There are some interesting findings in this dataset when looking at Durham county, and the Triangle region more generally.

Interesting article and stats about Durham Real Estate market and OWD

Although I generally hesitate to link to PR news-releases, I found this article about the state of Real Estate market in Durham interesting, particularly as it compares to the rest of the Triangle. Favorite highlight: overall home sales are down 18% from 2010, which is still better than 27% for the Triangle and 29% for Wake County. Given the relative strength of OWD  and surrounding neighborhoods as compared to the rest of Durham (see overall Durham metrics), the hope is that we have reached the bottom of the market and the only way forward is up.

27705, Durham Homes For Sale

27705, Durham Recently Sold Homes