This is always an easy month because the month is also the year-to-date! Good for halving the work, but not so good for trying to determine any trends. One thing we’ve been noticing on a regional level is inventory (the number of homes for sale) is VERY low. This causes homes to either sell quicker than they otherwise would, for more than they otherwise would, or both! Let's see if we can see that over the past month:

 

Throughout the 16 counties that report to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service (Triangle MLS or TMLS), 3,040 homes closed last month versus 2,551 in January of last year. What about here?

 

Two things moved last month compared to a year ago. Price shot up and time on the market moved down. Two good indicators of inventory. I can also use another tool we real estate agents have access to and compare the inventory:

 

What’s this fancy thing? “Months of inventory” is how our industry determines how much is on the market measured against how fast things are selling. This means that if no new homes are listed for sale, it will take X months to “sell out”. When we say, “historically low inventory”, this is what we mean. There has never been this low a number in Briar Chapel (although admittedly this stat only goes back to 2011 here).

 

In other words: If no new homes hit the market (which is the big if), expect Briar Chapel resales to "sell out" in about two weeks.

 

And that price jump is great, but that alone doesn’t tell the entire story. Last month the average price per square foot was around $185 and last January it was $169/sf. The homes last month were also around 200 sf larger which (literally) multiplies the differences.

 

Wow, builders. Go you! As with any home, explanations of big swings in homes usually is “it depends”. For this month is a giant difference in size. Last month the average new home in Briar Chapel was 2058 square feet. A year ago it was a whopping 2,630 square feet.

 

 

Combined, it paints a dramatic picture. What few homes that are on the market attract more attention, sell quicker, and thanks to that, generally more money.