In the Raleigh, NC market, closings of new homes gained year-over-year in July, and the market seemed to be signaling strengthening with a percentage lift more robust than June 2014. Closings gained 7.3% from a year earlier to 546. This followed a move from 546 in June 2013 to 509 in June 2014.

A total of 6,152 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in July, up from 6,115 for the year that ended in June.

Of 2,526 total closings, 546 were of new homes. This marks a rise from 19.5% of total closings a year earlier. Following a year-over-year rise in June, closings of new and existing homes slid year-over-year in July.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In July, there was a 4.0% rise year-over-year in the average price of newly sold homes, reaching $317,552 per unit. This hike is smaller than the 6.6% bump in June year-over-year.

Along with new home prices, there was an increase year-over-year in the average mortgage size on newly sold homes. Average mortgage size rose 2.9% to $258,517 in July from a year earlier. In June 2014, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 5.7% lift year-over-year from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

The percentage of new home closings belonging to single-family homes has risen from last year while the portion of new home closings belonging to attached units has dropped. The share of new home closings belonging to single-family homes gained from 79.6% in July 2013 to 83.2% of closings in July 2014. Meanwhile, attached units as a percentage of all new home closings declined to 16.8% of closings from 20.4% of closings.

The average unit size of newly sold homes fell 7.5% year-over-year to 2,340 square feet in July 2014. This decline was opposite the price surge, a pattern also seen in June 2014 when the average size of newly sold homes sank 11.4% to 2,267 square feet. The average size of newly sold homes moved from 2,559 square feet in June 2013 to 2,267 square feet in June 2014.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings continued to decline from a year earlier in July, but did not look to be a burden on the market. Combined, foreclosures plus REO closings accounted for 15.4% of existing home closings, below 21.7% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures declined to 7.1% in July from 12.9% a year earlier and REO closings moved from 8.8% of existing home closings in July 2013 to 8.3% in July 2014.