MLS Market Report: Real estate agents finish out 2021 with record in sales volume (copy) | News

BOONE – The 2021 MLS Market Report for the High Country Association of Realtors® saw realtors end the year with record sales volume and some comparable numbers to the 2020 historical totals.

In December 2021, the High Country MLS recorded 249 homes sold for $116 million. In December 2020, 289 homes were sold for $124 million. The median selling price increased 9 percent this year to $355,200 compared to $325,000 in December 2020, according to the High Country Association of Realtors.

Professionals in the High Country MLS sold a total of 3,222 home listings valued at $1.43 billion through the end of 2021. Home sales totaled $1.18 billion last year. The 2020 High Country MLS Records reported a total of 3,269 homes sold. The number of High Country homes sold this year fell just 1.4 percent from 2020, but sales value rose 20 percent, a pattern noted in the United States, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The agency also said the price increase represented the largest annual home price increase in the history of the agency’s home price index, according to the High Country Association of Realtors.

A notable statistic recorded this year was the median selling price — the point at which half of all homes sold over or under — for 2021 was $345,000. The year before it was $285,000. That’s a 21 percent increase in home selling prices compared to 2020.

Shy Fecteau, past President of High Country Realtor® and MLS, explains the year from a pro’s perspective.

“We thought it couldn’t get any harder than 2020, but as we entered an even stronger seller’s market in 2021, High Country Realtors® had to work harder than ever to close their buyers,” said Fecteau. “This is reflected in our sales volume and the number of home sales, despite the ongoing inventory decline month-on-month.”

In September 2021, buyers took 305 homes off the market, the most in a month on record all year. The peak for home sales in the past year was recorded in September 2020 with 440 homes sold. At market bottoms, the High Country Association of Realtors recorded a meager 183 homes sold in February. The lowest number since April last year, when just 130 homes were sold.

INTEREST CHARGES: Lending giant Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year fixed rate as of January 10, 2022 was 3.22 percent. We saw stable interest rates around 3.10 percent for the month of December 2021. Interest on 30-year FRMs was 2.65 percent per annum.

INVENTORY: As of Jan. 10, 289 homes were for sale in the four-county area, compared to Jan. 6 last year when there were 496 homes for sale. By this comparison, there is a nearly 42 percent drop in inventories from last year.

COUNTRY: Realtors® sold 1,649 lots for 2021 for a total sales volume of $195 million. Last year 1,144 tracts of land worth $110.3 million in 2020.

MLS data shows that Realtors® recorded 144 property sales for the month of December totaling $18.79 million. Alleghany County Realtors® sold 12 lots valued at $1.17 million. Ashe County realtors sold 37 lots valued at $5.37 million. Avery County Realtors® sold 18 lots valued at $2 million. Watauga County Realtors® sold 58 lots for a total of $8.54 million, according to the High Country Association of Realtors.

ADVERTISING: A total of 61 commercial properties worth $30 million were sold that year. Last year’s MLS data recorded just 30 commercial entries that sold for $13.47 million. That’s a 103% increase in commercial property sales this year. We start the new year with 80 commercial properties active in the MLS.

At the end of the year, 3 commercial properties were sold in December. Two were in Watauga County for a total of $709,000. There was one in Ashe County for $535,000.

WATAUGA COUNTY. REALTORS® sold a total of 1,373 homes valued at $694 million in 2021. Professionals listed 1,426 homes valued at $596 million in 2020. The median selling price increased from $340,000 in 2020 to $400,000 in 2021. In December, 118 homes were sold for $67.7 million.

ASHE COUNTY. Realtors® sold 563 homes valued at $184 million at the end of the year. Last year, Realtors® recorded 541 homes sold for $153 million in 2020. The median selling price this year was $290,000 compared to $265,000 last year. As of December 2021, 46 homes were sold for $14.96 million.

AVERY COUNTY. Realtors® sold 691 homes in 2021 for a total of $350 million. Last year there were 712 homes valued at $285 million. The average selling price was US$315,000, for 2020 it was recorded at US$255,000. In December, 42 homes sold for $17 million.

ALLEGHANY COUNTY. Realtors® sold a total of 283 homes valued at $77 million for the year. The average selling price was $242,172. Last year, 249 homes were sold for $41.12 million. In the last month of the year, Alleghany Realtors® sold 20 homes for $5.4 million.