RALEIGH- Inflation is sky-high, mortgage interest rates have skyrocketed this year, and there are signs that national and state economies are deteriorating. But that doesn’t discourage the sale of mansions and estates priced above $2.5 million in the Triangle and Triad regions.
Since July 1, 29 homes have sold for more than $2.5 million, with asking prices ranging from $2.3 million to $5.9 million and closed sale prices ranging from $2.5 million. million to $5 million, according to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service database.
Of those homes sold, the total sales value exceeded $90 million.
The sales include homes in established upscale neighborhoods such as Governors Club, where a $3.3 million listed property sold for $3 million, and also Morning Mountain Estates, where a 4 .75 million sold for $4.1 million.
The Morning Mountain Estates home was completely rebuilt in 2015, and the five-acre property backs onto Falls Lake Preserve. The four-bedroom, 12,178-square-foot property, which was listed by Susan Dahlin Bashford, a real estate broker with Hodge & Kittrell Sotheby’s International Realty in Raleigh, features imported hand-carved fireplace mantels, stone cage balusters hand wrought iron staircase, marble floor and Brazilian walnut and red oak hardwoods.
1624 Morning Mountain Road. Image Credit: Visit Factory, Raleigh.
Despite uncertainty, luxury home market ‘still strong’
Bashford told WRAL TechWire that even with the recent changes in the Triangle property market, the upscale segment of the local market is being left out of the recent price depreciation.
“The high-end market is still strong,” Bashford said. “Houses that are really nice and listed at a good price always sell.”
That also includes homes listed for more than $5 million, Bashford noted, citing a home that had received multiple offers.
“There’s a pent-up luxury market just standing around, waiting in the wings, waiting,” Bashford said. She WRAL TechWire that she and the company had clients who wanted to buy high-end homes in the Triangle but gave up because they couldn’t find anything that would meet their needs at any price.
So what are luxury home buyers looking for?
“Uniqueness is really important, build quality and location,” Bashford said.
Why are so many North Carolina businessmen listing their multi-million dollar homes right now?
The luxury segment is not affected by the uncertainty of interest rates
While luxury home buyers may choose to purchase property with mortgage financing, many buyers in this part of the market may purchase property with cash, Bashford said.
“Most high-end homes, a lot of people buy them with cash,” Bashford said. “So the interest rate doesn’t come into play like it would with low-end homes.”
But high-end homes tend to stay on the market much longer than homes in the most affordable segment or core market, said Laura Siegmund, owner of Luxe Residential in Raleigh.
Yet many homes priced at $1 million to $2.5 million, which were once considered the top of the market in the Triangle, have sold out in 30, 60 or 90 days over the past two years, Siegmund said. .
“There are still a lot of buyers, a lot of activity,” Siegmund said. This is because the Triangle and the Triad attract a lot of executives and affluent and high-income earners from other regions, whether they move for employment or for other reasons.
Construction can’t keep up with demand for luxury homes in North Carolina, real estate agent says
Shortage of housing in the region, even in the luxury market
The fact is, the Triangle is still experiencing a housing shortage, no matter what segment of the market buyers are looking to find a home in, Siegmund noted.
Still, in the luxury market, Siegmund said, sellers shouldn’t expect their homes to sell quickly. It could take six or even 12 months to sell, which is a typical timeframe for the sale of high-end new homes in the area, many of which are currently offered for sale in the Triangle.
WRAL TechWire reported earlier this year that North Carolina builders just can’t seem to build luxury homes fast enough.
According to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service, there are 37 active listings available for purchase in the area that are new construction homes or homes yet to be completed listed at over $2.5 million, with another 45 existing homes for sale.
Additionally, there are currently 34 Triangle homes under contract with an asking price of over $2.5 million. And 22 of those homes are new homes that were either completed in 2022 or haven’t been completed yet, but are still under contract to sell.
223 Shady Drive, Burlington, North Carolina. Image Credit: Lighthouse Visuals
The triad also sees growing interest in luxury homes
Businessman John Burton bought a nearly 18,000 square foot home on 2.3 acres of lakeside land in Burlington in December 2021 for $2.75 million.
The property, a palace-like Tudor-style six-bedroom home with nine full bathrooms and six half bathrooms, went on sale in late spring 2022.
The asking price: $5.9 million.
Listed by Brandon Blackman with Hodge & Kittrell Sotheby’s International Realty in Raleigh, the home is reportedly selling after being available for 47 days on the open market, with a closing price of just over $4.7 million.
“That’s pretty quick for a luxury property,” Blackman said, adding the sale price is the highest ever in Alamance County. And of all searchable home sales in the Triangle Multiple Listing Service database, this property sold for the tenth-highest on record.
The property was purchased in an all-cash transaction, with closing taking less than 30 days. And the buyer was an LLC, Blackman told WRAL TechWire.
But just because the property is in the top 10 for sale of all listings in the Triangle and Triad area, it might not stay there long. Blackman told WRAL TechWire that there are several properties for sale in the Triad, with the company currently offering a $5.7 million Greensboro estate on the open market.
“There are more and more high-end luxury homes in the Triad area that are on the market,” Blackman said.
Additionally, of the homes currently awaiting sale in the Triangle Multiple Listing Service database, five were listed at over $5 million. And 12 more are available for sale on the open market, including this Greensboro estate and the Cary Mansion put up for sale by Triangle entrepreneur and venture capitalist David Gardner.
His Cary mansion is up for sale (over $8 million) but investor David Gardner isn’t leaving Triangle
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