Press release from Mosaic Realty
The housing market in 2022 started the year in seller’s market territory and remained deep in a seller’s market through the end of the quarter. High demand and low inventory were driving frequent bidding wars and rising prices. Even though interest rates rose through the 1st quarter of 2022, demand from buyers and persistently low housing inventory kept prices rising.
Number of homes sold. In the first quarter of 2022, slightly fewer homes sold in the City of Asheville and Buncombe County compared to the first quarter of 2021, with 312 homes sold in Asheville and 706 in Buncombe County; a 12% decrease in the number of homes sold in Asheville and a 3% decrease in Buncombe County. Fewer homes selling was the result of limited housing inventory rather than a decline in the number of buyers wanting to purchase homes.
Inventory levels. In Asheville and Buncombe County, Q1 inventory was under 1 month in most price ranges, deep in seller’s market territory. Economists generally consider a balanced market to have 6 months of inventory, which means that it would take 6 months for all the available homes to sell based on the rate of sales within the last 12 months. Less than 6 months is considered a seller’s market, where there are more buyers than homes available. In a seller’s market, the lack of supply coupled with strong demand leads to increased competition for the available homes.
Median home sale price. The first quarter of 2022 saw the highest median sales prices in Asheville and Buncombe County on record, with a median sales price of $440,000 in Asheville and $405,000 in Buncombe County. Comparing first-quarter pre-pandemic prices in 2019 of $281,225 in Asheville and Buncombe County to this most recent quarter, median prices rose an astounding 56% in the Asheville and 44% in Buncombe County.
Average Days on Market (DOM). Average Days on Market continued to decline as well, with 30 DOM in Asheville and 39 DOM in Buncombe County in the first quarter of 2022.
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