Deed of Trust activity had a decrease from December 2023’s level.
Wake County Register of Deeds Tammy L. Brunner
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tammy Brunner tammy.brunner@wake.gov
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Raleigh, NC – Wake County’s very high-value segment (real estate sales transactions worth $30 million and above) had 2 transactions in the month of January. December had 1 very high transaction.
- Vacant Lot @ 2301 Sunnybrook Road Raleigh, NC: $86.5 million
- Stout Ventures Raleigh, NC: $32.5 million
The High-value segment, (transactions worth between $1 million to $30 million), stood at 133 transactions totaling $387.0 million, an increase of $10.1 million.
Transactions in the Core Market (property valued at $1 million or less) saw 1,426 transactions (282 less than December 2023) totaling $638.9 million, down 17 % from December.
Total sales value from all three segments equaled just over $1.1 billion for January 2024, just under December’s total sales of $1.3 billion. 1,561 transactions occurred in January which is a decrease in the number of transactions compared to December total sales of 1,854.
The following chart shows the dollar value of real estate transfers by month broken down into three price ranges.
Median Sales Prices
The median sales price of a parcel of Wake County real estate for January 2024 was $436,500 down $15,750 from December 2023 price of $452,250.
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. 91 % of January transactions occurred in the core market.
Lending saw a decrease in January 2024
Real estate lending activity in January saw a decrease from December’s level and compared to January 2023, it was down 1 %. There were 2,216 deed of trust transactions in January 2024, whereas December 2023’s deed of trust transactions showed 2,457 a decrease of 241 transactions.
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 an increasing refinance of mortgage loans.
Long-Term Trends in Real Estate Activity
Aggregate value of real estate transactions
Real estate transactions tend to be seasonal; it is useful to compare monthly results to the corresponding month of prior years. The following chart shows the aggregate value of real estate transfers in Wake County linearly (month by month) from January 2022 through year-to-date 2024.
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 2022 through year-to-date 2024. Because real estate transactions tend to be seasonal, this information should be evaluated in conjunction with the year-over-year comparison as shown in the preceding chart.
Deed volume
The following chart shows the number of deeds recorded in Wake County for each month from January 2022 through year-to-date 2024. The numbers of deeds recorded reflect the velocity of real estate activity without regard to the dollar value of a transaction.
Real estate lending
This chart shows the number of deeds of trust recorded in Wake County for each month from January 2022 through year-to-date 2024. A deed of trust is the legal instrument used in North Carolina to secure a loan with real estate used as collateral.
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 January 2024, 32 % of deeds attracted no excise tax. In 2023, that percentage was 27 % in the first quarter, 22 % in the second quarter, 25 % for the third quarter, and 28 % for the fourth quarter.
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: Tammy Brunner, Register of Deeds
O. 919-856-5460
tammy.brunner@wake.gov
This report was initially released on February 6, 2024.
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