ResalesDurham, North Carolina"s Selling Season Begins When School"s Out
The spring buying/selling season in Durham, North Carolina waits for its many universities to end the semester, and local brokers are expecting a brisk belated housing market.
"Durham is known as the "City of Education" with Duke and North Carolina Central Universities and the "City of Medicine,"" say Realtors Janet, Steve and Ben Foreman. "Durham is also a high-tech city having many "techy" residents who work in the Research Triangle Park. Durham is also very rich in cultural heritage: Downtown Durham has many restored tobacco houses now being used as offices and condos. The Durham Bulls play at the new Durham Athletic Park, and downtown Durham is the center of much revitalization & restoration. Only minutes from The Research Triangle Park, Durham has been touted by Money Magazine and Inc as one of the top best metro areas."
Says Realtor Carl Neighbors, "Durham offers the peace of a small-town setting along with the dynamics of a university town."
He advises, "At this time, Durham is just beginning the spring buying/selling season. The universities, Duke University, The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and North Carolinal Central University, are holding their graduation ceremonies and the city and private schools are graduating their students as well. Also, because of activity in the Research Triangle Park (RTP), personnel there are moving in and out of the Triangle. According to Triangle MLS"s Market Update created by Stacey P. Anfindsen, editor, the number of listings for the four-county area (Durham, Wake, Johnson and Orange) has increased in each of the past four years and inventory in April of 2003, is almost 10 percent higher than in April of 2002. Also, the year-to-date closings were the highest in four years and were 4.5 percent higher than the first quarter of 2002, with the rate of sales not keeping pace with rising inventory. The current supply has increased from 7 months to 8 months. All of this means that there are opportunities opening for the buying and selling of real estate."
"Durham today ranks among the top cities in the United States for its standard of living," says Realtor Rick Freeman. "Once a quiet town with its roots in textiles and tobacco, Durham is now a pacesetter in medicine, education, research, high-tech industry and the arts. With a population of over 223,000, Durham is North Carolina"s fifth largest city. Unlike Wake and Orange Counties, the city of Durham is the only incorporated municipality in the County of Durham. The city is located 23 miles northwest of Raleigh and 12 miles northeast of Chapel Hill."
He says, "There is an 8-month supply of homes on the market in Durham County. The Raleigh/Durham market seems to have bounced back from a sluggish 2002, although sellers need to still consider that we remain in a strong buyer"s market."
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