Very High-value segment scored over $1.3 billion, a new record from twenty-one sales.
High-Value segment set a record with 250 sales totaling over $991 million.
Wake County Register of Deeds Tammy L. Brunner
For Immediate Release
Contact: Luther Snyder luther.snyder@wake.gov
All Press Releases
Raleigh, NC – Wake County’s Very High-value Segment (real estate sales transactions worth $30 million and above) reached an all-time high in December 2021 of over $1.3 billion. This is a $551 million increase from November 2021’s Very-high value market. Apartment activity was again active with nine transactions out of twenty-one in this segment. The other twelve were a mix of shopping centers, office buildings, and developmental land. December 2021’s Very High-value segment transactions are as follows:
- Triangle Factory Shops Mall 1001 Airport Blvd, Morrisville, NC: $181 million.
- Hudson High House Apartments, Cary, NC: $93 million.
- Wal-Mart Store and Lot 13 Shiloh Crossing, Morrisville, NC: $88 million.
- The Riley Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $84 million.
- Braxton at Brier Creek Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $79 million.
- The Waterford Apartments, Morrisville, NC: $76 million.
- Foxwood Luxury Apartments – Bldg. 1, Raleigh, NC: $73 million.
- Beaver Creek Crossings Shopping Center, Apex, NC: $70.5 million.
- 6401 Triangle Plantation Dr. (shopping center), Raleigh, NC: $58 million.
- Regency Woods II Office Building, Cary, NC: $53 million.
- Concord Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $53 million.
- Capital Creek at Heritage Apartments, Wake Forest, NC: $52 million.
- Foxwood Luxury Apartments – Phase 2 Bldg. 9, Raleigh, NC: $52 million.
- Brentmoor Apartments, Raleigh, NC: $52 million.
- Palisades Business Park, Raleigh, NC: $48 million.
- 52 North (formerly One North Commerce Center), Raleigh, NC: $44 million.
- Brier Creek Corporate Center – Parcel J., Raleigh, NC: $39 million.
- Oxford University Press – 0 Evans Rd & 2001 Evans Rd, Cary, NC: $38 million.
- 604 Airport Blvd, Morrisville, NC: $36 million.
- 3100 & 3128 Smoketree Ct, Raleigh, NC: $35.5 million.
- Carolina Place (office building), Raleigh, NC: $32.5 million.
The High-value segment, (transactions worth between $1 million to $30 million), enjoyed 250 transactions totaling over $991 million, a gain of $472 million from November.
Transactions in the Core Market (property valued at $1 million or less) saw 2,763 transactions totaling $1.14 billion, up $28 million (2.5%) from November.
Total sales transactions from all three segments equaled over $3.48 billion for December 2021.
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 clocked in at $411,000 for the month of December 2021, setting another new record high. This is a $6,000 increase from November 2021’s price of $405,000. December 2021’s median price is $82,250 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. 91.07% of December 2021’s transactions occurred in the core market.
Lending activity dipped slightly in November
Real estate lending activity in December 2021 decreased again (2.3%) from November’s 2021’s level and compared to December 2020, it was down 22%. There were 6,379 deed of trust transactions in December 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 December 2021, and the gap between the two is narrowing slightly, but 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.
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
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. The 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. The number of deeds of trust recorded reflects 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 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 Dec 2021, 24.56% 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 January 18th, 2022.
