Asheville Homes Sales Jump 40% Over Last Year

Provided by the Asheville Citizen Times

By Mark Barrett • June 10, 2010

ASHEVILLE — Sales of existing homes in Buncombe County were up nearly 40 percent in May over May 2009, and much of the increase was apparently caused by federal tax credits for homebuyers.

The median sale price — the point at which half were higher, half lower — fell to $200,000, down 3.4 percent from May 2009’s $207,000 but up from  $186,000 in April 2010.

Sales have been up in eight of the last nine months and rose 68 percent in April, but there are concerns about what will happen once the artificial support the credits provide goes away.  Buyers can claim credits of up to $8,000 for first- time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers if they put  a home under contract before May 1 and close on  the sale no later than June 30.

Transactions don’t show up in sales figures  compiled by N.C. Mountains Multiple Listing Service  until the sale actually closes. Many of the sales that  closed in May went under contract in April, just  before the credits expired.

“After April, when the tax credits went away …  (buyer interest) really dropped,” said Judy Dawkins,  owner/broker-in-charge at Re/Max All Stars Realty.

There were 211 existing home sales in Buncombe  County in May, up from 151 in May 2009 but down  237 from April 2010. Sales were up 19.8 percent  over May 2009 in Henderson County and more than  doubled in Transylvania County, but fell 17.8  percent in Haywood County.

Despite the big increase in sales, local real estate  analyst Don Davies said a record number of homes  for sale in Buncombe County and fading effects from  the tax credit do not bode well for the rest of the  year.  “I’ve got a big old lump in my stomach about the market,” he said.

May 2009 sales were down more than 40 percent   from May 2008, Davies said. “Anything would look  good compared to last year,” he said.

There were 3,549 homes for sale in Buncombe  County at the end of May, he said, and that figure  has been rising rapidly.

“What we … have is people saying, ‘Man, I better sell  this now because it may get worse,’” Davies said.