Summer 2023 Market Update

Residential Update: The housing market in the High Country remains an ever-changing landscape.  This winter we saw another year of near-record low home inventory.  We have also seen lower volume of sales in the first part of the year simply due to there being less available to sell.   This dynamic has kept values stable or even pushed some home values to record levels highs even despite greater economic uncertainty and higher interest rates.   Perspective is important to keep in mind.  Our market is relatively small compared to the rest of the country and there is still strong demand for people to relocate or live here.  For homeowners who may have bought in the last few years when rates were very low, it is hard to justify selling or relocating with few options to choose from and higher borrowing costs.  This has contributed to low inventory levels. For buyers that want to relocate to the area, some positives are that the pace of the market has slowed which is helpful.  Rates in the 6-7% range historically have been more normal and the High Country still offers a great quality of life for full and part-time residents.   For sellers, it is still a great time to sell due to low inventory.  Values are still holding stable and summer through fall tends to be a high-traffic time for our area.     Land Update: With a continued low inventory of homes, the land market has shown pockets of steady activity.  There are still great deals in the land market compared to the housing market which appreciated in value very quickly. Active land inventory in Watauga/Avery counties is down 45% year over year so there are fewer options available.  If this trend continues it will help land values.  Also, because of lower home inventory, we are still seeing demand for land as people have fewer options but to build.     Source: https://www.highcountryrealtors.org/2023/05/11/march-2023-high-country-mls-market-report-copy/