WRAR: Average home price dropped almost 9% this year

The average sales price for Wilmington homes took about a 9 percent drop from the end of 2008 to June 30, the end of the second quarter. The good news is, most of that drop happened in the first quarter.

According to a report from the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors (WRAR), the average sales price in five major Wilmington zip codes dropped 8.9 percent from the end of 2008, and a decrease of about .07 percent from the end of the first quarter 2009.

The median sales price dropped 9.9 percent from year-end 2008, and 3.5 decrease from last quarter.

WRAR President April McDavid said that the number of sales in the area is more on par with ten years ago. She called the time between 1998 and 2003 as a time of “slow, steady growth.”

“Instead of a steep incline then a fast decline, I think we’re trying to stabilize and get to a more normal market,” she said.

Though the average sales prices have decreased, Jeff Sweyer from Century 21 Sweyer and Associates sees positives in the unit sales.

“If you look at the national trends and in the southeast, we’re pretty much in line in what’s going on in those trends. We’re definitely seeing prices come down, but saying that, we’re seeing unit sales in some price ranges do better than previous years,” Sweyer said.

“It’s giving people an incentive to purchase more houses, because people see there is value out there.”

The report from WRAR included breakdowns of the area codes 28403, 28405, 28409, 28411 and 28412.

The average selling price for each zip code was down, with the 28405 zip code having the largest percentage drop. The average selling price in the 28405 zip code at the end of 2008 was $296,397 compared to $248,234, a 16.2 percent drop.

The 28411 zip code had the lowest percentage drop, from $317,945 at the end of 2008 to $305,237 at the end of this quarter, a 4 percent.

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