The continued decline of the local home market has far-reaching implications for the livelihood of thousands of Triad workers in the real estate, building, banking and supplying business.
The total number of closings in Forsyth, Guilford and Alamance counties combined during the first six months of 2011 was 4,066, down 20 percent from the same period in 2010, according to Rocky Mount-based Market Opportunity Research Enterprises (M.O.R.E.). That follows consecutive years of compounding double digit declines that have seen the total number of homes purchased — new and resale — fall from 21,226 in 2006 to 8,978 in 2010 and, if the current pace is maintained, 7,182 homes in 2011.
According to Business Journal Editor Mark Sutter, that decline in annual sales translates into the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions from the local economy.
The situation underscores a pervasive problem that has befuddled everyone from local brokers to lenders: Where is the rebound?
Although it’s true that home sales continue to drop, they’ve declined less in the last 18 months than they did in the immediate wake of the financial meltdown, industry insiders say. Analysts and real estate agents say that may be a sign that the home market is finally bottoming out.
In this week's Business Report, Sutter looks at the Triad home sales market through the lens of a glass half full, and half empty.
