The extreme pandemic-driven seller’s market is intensifying and will likely last through the first half of the year. In the week ending January 24, home-sale prices soared 18% and pending sales grew 28% from the same period last year. Fifty-five percent of homes that went under contract that week found a buyer in 14 days or less—the largest share to sell that quickly in at least nine years (Redfin data on this measure goes back through 2012). “The main thing going on is scarcity of homes for sale.... read more

At Echo Farms, crews have broken ground on a tract that will hold 54 single-family homes as a developer continues to plan 62 townhomes on adjacent land.The upcoming townhomes, part of the Woodlands at Echo Farms, will be different from those in a recent project, Woodlands Landing, in that they will be for sale rather than for lease, the developer said."We see high demand for both single-family and townhomes," Brian Eckel, of GHK Cape Fear Development and Wilmington-based commercial real estate firm Cape Fear Commer... read more