October 2023's Median Price of Wake County Real Estate increased by $2500 to $452,500 (2024)

Deed of Trust activity had no increase from September 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 October.

1. Novel Cary Apartments, Cary NC: $105.3 million
2. North City 6 Apartments, Raleigh NC : $64.2 million

The High-value segment, (transactions worth between $1 million to $30 million), stood at 145 transactions totaling $323.7 million, a decrease of $1.4 million.

Transactions in the Core Market (property valued at $1 million or less) saw 1,761 transactions (25 less than September 2023) totaling $804.9 million, down 1 % from September.

Total sales value from all three segments equaled just over $1.3 billion for October 2023, just under September’s total sales of $1.4 billion. 1,908 transactions occurred in October which is a decrease in the number of transactions compared to September total sales of 1,921.

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 October 2023 was $452,500 up $2500 from September 2023 price of $450,000.

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. 92 % of October transactions occurred in the core market.

Lending saw no increase in October 2023

Real estate lending activity in October saw no increase from September’s level and compared to October 2022, it was down 16 %. There were 2,756 deed of trust transactions in October, whereas September 2023’s deed of trust transactions showed 2,752 a increase of 4 transactions.

Real estate lending activity has two primary components.

1. 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.
2. 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 2021 through year-to-date 2023.

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 2021 through year-to-date 2023. 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 2021 through year-to-date 2023. The number 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 2021 through year-to-date 2023. 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 October 2023, 29 % of deeds attracted no excise tax. In 2022, that percentage was 29 % in the first quarter, 22 % in the second quarter, 22 % for the third quarter, and 24 % 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