By Megan V. Williams
Wilmington, NC – Last month, members of Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors sold only three-quarters as many homes as they did last February. The median home price dropped more than ten thousand dollars last month as well, compared to that time last year.
Sales numbers for the past few months have declined down to 2002, 2003 levels. But WRAR president-elect April McDavid says that isn't such a bad thing.
"In January '03, we thought that was a very good market. And then of course we kind of had the housing boom. So really, we think we're just returning to a normal market," she said.
Existing home sales were down across the state for the first months of this year, with Haywood and the Washington-Beaufort areas hardest hit.
But McDavid says local home sales have started to pick up recently
"Definitely seeing more buyers and more showings going on and more activity," she said, "Spring is generally, in our area, the best months that we do have in real estate."
Even if business is improving, the cooling real estate market has thinned the ranks of local realtors. WRAR lost 44 members in the past year.
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Find WRAR's data on local home sales numbers here
Find existing home sales numbers across the state here
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