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Buncombe, McDowell, and Burke County Market Trends
The fall leaf season is here, and while the seasons are seeing their colorful shift in our beautiful mountains, real estate trends remain on a similar trajectory as the trends we observed in Q2. Overall, we are seeing fewer new listings. Prices remain relatively stable despite lowered demand as historically low inventories appear to be “balancing the scales” and stabilizing pricing in most markets.
Buncombe County
In Buncombe County, new listings were down 5% for September and down 17% for 2023. Prices in the Asheville area continue to remain stable and slightly increased from 2022. The median price is up 3.6% and the average price is up 4.2%. Inventories on the market sit at 762 homes vs. 760 compared to this time last year. The market is showing some signs of softness with closings being down 21% YTD from 2022 – 3465 closings in 2022 compared to 2720 in 2023. YTD days on the market increased in 2023 to 38 compared to 26 in 2022. The Buncombe market is still classified as a seller’s market as low inventory counteracts other opposing trends.
View our Asheville and Black Mountain homes for sale.
Burke County
Similar to trends closer to the Asheville area, Burke County’s new listings are down 9.7% YTD compared to 2022. September’s numbers are a bit of an outlier in that new listings increased by 23% compared to 2022. This will be an interesting trend to monitor over the next few months to see if this pattern continues. As for now, inventories remain low with only 118 homes on the market compared to 111 last year. Average price.jpg)
YTD is up 9.4% to $304,427 compared to $278,366 in 2022. Burke County heads into the fall months as a seller’s market.
View our Lake James homes for sale.
McDowell County
In neighboring McDowell County, a different picture is emerging. While new listings are down compared to 2022, they are only down 6.2% YTD and were up 20% for September (similar to Burke County). Dissimilar to Burke and Buncombe County, the average price is down 9.2% from $378,452 in 2022 to $343,792 in 2023. The price decrease can likely be chalked up to the increase in inventory and reduction of closings in the county. Closings are down 22.6% YTD for 2023 compared to the previous year. Inventories in McDowell County are up 47.4% compared to 2022 – 115 homes in 2023 compared to 78 homes in 2022. A stable market is defined as 4 to 5 months of supply. While McDowell County is technically still considered a seller’s market, all indications point to it quickly approaching a stable market.
View our Old Fort homes for sale.
Conclusion
While there are some notable signs of the market slowing down across our region, Buncombe County and Burke County’s prices remain remarkably stable as low inventories balance out the slightly decreased demand. McDowell County, however, appears to be making a turn toward price stability as inventories outpace last year. It will be interesting to see how the story in McDowell County continues to unfold and if Buncombe and Burke County make a similar turn or continue down the same path they have followed thus far.