2009 Union County NC Real Estate Market--Three Sets of Statistics for Buyers and Sellers
2009 Union County NC Real Estate Market—Three Sets of Statistics for Buyers and Sellers
It’s time to look back at the 2009 Union County NC real estate market to see what lessons can be learned for the 2010 market. You’ll find three tables below that illustrate what happened in the Union County marketplace last year. I chose these sets of numbers because I believe they give a good snapshot of the 2009 real estate market. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, average sales prices, number of homes sold, and the absorption rate can help you determine the likelihood of finding a great buy or the difficulty or ease of selling.
Average Sales Prices
Average sales prices declined in Union County as a whole and in each of the small towns with one exception. These declines affected both single family homes and townhouses and condos. Lake Park was the exception where average prices for townhomes were up 17%. I believe that this can be attributed to the fact that there is one new townhome complex under construction in Lake Park. Prices in this complex were probably uniformly higher than the Lake Park townhome/condo market in general.
Average sales prices for single family homes declined 9% overall in Union County. Price declines in the small towns ranged from 4% in Weddington to 21% in Marvin. Weddington, Lake Park, and Indian Trail kept their price declines below 10% for the year. The townhome/condo market is relatively small is Union County. Some of the towns don’t have multifamily complexes at all. The table shows that Union County overall was off 12% with the towns showing mixed results.
Union County NC 2009 Average Price Declines
| Area | Single Family | Townhome/Condo |
| Union County | –9% | –12%
|
| Weddington | –4% | n/a |
| Lake Park | –6% | +17% |
| Indian Trail | –9% | –20% |
| Wesley Chapel | –13% | n/a |
| Stallings | –13% | –5% |
| Waxhaw | –14% | –6% |
| Monroe | –18% | –16% |
| Marvin | –21% | n/a |
Source: Carolina Multiple Listing Service
Homes Sold by Price Range
Fewer single family homes sold in 2009 than in 2008 in Union County NC. There were 13% fewer homes sold overall in Union County. The decline in number of sales was greatest in homes prices over $300,000, dropping 27%. There were only 6% fewer homes sold in the under $300,000 range. It is likely that the first time home buyer tax credit contributed to the more active market in the lower price range.
Union County NC Single Family Homes Sold 2008 and 2009
| Price Range | 2008 | 2009 | Change |
| <$100,000 | 179 | 213 | |
| $100,000-$300,000 | 1442 | 1299 | -6% (<$300,000) |
| $301,000-$500,000 | 504 | 349 | |
| $501,000-$700,000 | 142 | 141 | |
| >$700,000 | 142 | 81 | -27% (>$300,000) |
| Total Sales | 2409 | 2083 | -13% |
Source: Carolina Multiple Listing Service
Absorption Rate
Absorption rate is a way of calculating whether a real estate market is a buyers’ market, a sellers’ market or a balanced market. The table below shows the 2009 absorption rate for the various price ranges in Union County. The numbers were calculated by dividing sales per month for the last six months of 2009 into current active listings. The result tells you how many months supply is available in each price range.
The generally accepted definition of a buyers’ market is more than seven months supply. A balanced market has from five to seven months of inventory and a sellers’ market has less than five months of inventory.
Union County NC overall can be considered to have a balanced market with six months of inventory available. When the numbers are calculated by price range, however, homes priced under $300,000 are considered to be in a balanced market but the higher price ranges are in a buyers’ market. In fact, there is almost a three-year supply of homes priced over $700,000.
Union County NC Single Family Absorption Rate 2009
| Price Range | Homes on Market | Homes Sold
June-Dec 2009 | Sales Per Month | Absorption Rate |
| <$100,000 | 125 | 135 | 22.5 | 5.5 months |
| $100,000-$300,000 | 1072 | 845 | 140 | 7.6 months |
| $301,000-$500,000 | 454 | 252 | 42 | 10.8 months |
| $501,000-$700,000 | 133 | 96 | 16 | 8.3 months |
| >$700,000 | 256 | 50 | 8.3 | 30.8 months |
| Total Union County | 2039 | 1378 | 229.6 | 6 months |
Source: Carolina Multiple Listing Service
Learn more about the 2009 real estate market and the most active neighborhoods in each of Union County’s small towns.
Indian Trail NC
Stallings NC
Weddington NC
Waxhaw NC
Wesley Chapel NC
Marvin NC
Monroe NC
Lake Park NC
Copyright 2010. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *2009 Union County NC Real Estate Market—Three Sets of Statistics for Buyers and Sellers*