Apartment/Townhome multifamily housing continues to dominate the Very High-value segment with over $791 million from ten sales.
Refinancing activity slightly down from October level.
Wake County Register of Deeds Tammy L. Brunner
For Immediate Release
Contact: Luther Snyder luther.snyder@wake.gov
All Press Releases
Raleigh, NC – November 2021 reached over $791 million in sales with ten real estate transactions for the very high-value segment (transactions worth $30 million and above) in Wake County. This is a $582 million increase from October’s four transactions of roughly $209 million. Apartment/townhome multifamily activity is still on a positive trend capturing eight out of the ten transactions in this segment.
- Arium Lake Johnson Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $130 million.
- Arium Weston Apartments, Morrisville, NC: $101 million.
- Arium Lake Lynn Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $100 million.
- The Villages at Pecan Grove Apartments, Holly Springs, NC: $98 million.
- Arium Kildaire Apartments, Cary, NC: $96 million.
- Regatta at Lake Lynn Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $80 million.
- Arium Trailwood Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $74 million.
- Hodge Road Future Phases, LLC Lots 2 & 3, Knightdale, NC: $41 million.
- 207 units, Hedingham Townhomes, Raleigh, NC: $37.3 million.
- Triangle Town Center Mall, Raleigh, NC: $33.2 million.
The high-value segment, (transactions worth between $1 million to $30 million), had 149 transactions totaling over $518 million, a gain of $91 million from October.
Transactions in the Core Market (property valued at $1 million or less) enjoyed 2,754 transactions totaling $1.12 billion, down $67 million (5.9%) from October 2021’s core market transaction total of $1.18 billion.
The following chart shows the dollar value of real estate transfers by month broken down into three price ranges.
A breakdown of the dollar value of transactions by price range for the years 2014 – 2019 is available at Wake County 2019 Property Market and Trends 2014 - 2019
Median sales prices
The median sales price of a parcel of Wake County real estate was $405,000 for the month of November 2021, setting another new record high. This is a $6,500 increase from October 2021’s price of $398,500. November 2021’s median price is $76,250 above January 2021’s median price of $328,750.
Changes in median sales prices tend to be caused by activity in the core market. The occurrence or non-occurrence of large transactions has virtually no impact on the calculation of median values because there are so few of those transactions. 94.54% of November 2021’s transactions occurred in the core market.
Lending activity dipped slightly in November
Real estate lending activity in November 2021 decreased slightly (.76%) from October 2021’s level and compared to November 2020, it was down 12.5%. There were 6,531 deed of trust transactions in November 2021.
Real estate lending activity has two primary components.
- The first is lending that coincides with a transfer of ownership of real estate. This is seen in the typical residential home sale where simultaneously a seller’s loan is paid off and a buyer takes out a new loan as ownership is transferred by deed.
- The second is where a new loan secured by real estate is taken out, but there is not a change in ownership of the underlying property. This is the situation in the typical mortgage refinancing or second mortgage transaction.
The relative strength of the second type of lending activity can be quantified by comparing the ratio of deeds of trust to deeds in a period. Relatively more deeds of trust signify increasing refinance of mortgage loans.
Since the autumn of 2019, there has been a significant increase in the second type of lending activity. The following chart shows the continuing wide gap between deeds of trust and deeds. This gap, compared to a baseline period from 2019 through early 2020, quantifies increasing strength in the mortgage refinance market. Deed volume and Deeds of Trust volume decreased in November 2021, and the gap between the two remains consistently wide.
Long-Term Trends in Real Estate Activity
Aggregate value of real estate transactions
The following chart shows the aggregate dollar value of real estate transactions in Wake County for each month from 2019 through year-to-date 2021. Because real estate transactions tend to be seasonal, it is useful to compare monthly results to the corresponding month of prior years.
Aggregate value of real estate transactions - linear
The following chart shows the aggregate dollar value of real estate transfers in Wake County linearly (month by month) from January 2019 through year-to-date 2021. Because real estate transactions tend to be seasonal, this information should be evaluated in conjunction with the year over year comparison is shown in the preceding chart.
Deed volume
The following chart shows the number of deeds recorded in Wake County for each month from 2019 through year-to-date 2021. Numbers of deeds recorded reflect the velocity of real estate activity without regard to the dollar value of a transaction. The number of deeds includes transfers where monetary consideration did not change hands, such as transfers within a family.
Real estate lending
This chart shows the number of deeds of trust recorded in Wake County for each month from 2019 through year-to-date 2021. A deed of trust is the legal instrument used in North Carolina to secure a loan with real estate used as collateral. Numbers of deeds of trust recorded reflect the velocity of lending transactions involving real estate without regard to the dollar amount of the loan.
Methodology and Additional Information
The statistics in this report are derived from instruments recorded in the office of the Wake County Register of Deeds. Under North Carolina law, changes in property rights in real estate, including security interests in real estate, are recorded with the Register of Deeds of the county where the real estate is located.
The value of real estate transferred is measured by excise tax assessed on the consideration in a real estate transaction. Excise taxes are calculated as $1 in tax for every five hundred dollars of consideration. About 99% of these transactions were property transfers by deed and the balance were miscellaneous transactions such as acquisitions of a right of way. The calculation of the aggregate value of real estate includes all transactions. The calculation of the median price includes all transactions where the property containing excise tax was transferred by deed.
The number of deeds and deeds of trust recorded with the Register of Deeds reflects the total volume of property and loan transactions regardless of the dollar value of the real estate or the amount of the loan. The number of deeds includes transfers where monetary consideration did not change hands, such as transfers within a family. In November 2021, 22.26% of deeds attracted no excise tax. In 2020, that percentage was 21% in the first quarter, 22% in the second quarter, 21% for the third quarter, and 23% for the fourth quarter.
On March 14, 2020, public schools were closed, and mass gatherings were prohibited by executive order of the governor. On March 17 and 23, 2020 additional executive orders were issued which closed certain businesses and introduced additional restrictions. Based on these events, a starting date of March 17, 2020, is used to demark the advent of COVID-19 related legal restrictions on economic activity.
For a complete picture of Wake County real estate activity, the information in this report should be considered in conjunction with data available from other sources, such as rezoning applications and new building permits, plus other information published by the Register of Deeds available at https://www.wakegov.com/news?department=29
Contact: Luther Snyder, Deputy Director
O. 919-856-5462
luther.snyder@wake.gov
This report was initially released on December 10th, 2021.
