Helene and January’s Heavily Wintry Weather Could Be Cause for Sharp Decline in Sales

By  Bill Caroselli, REALTOR, Blue Ridge Realty & Investments, LLC

Well, the first year of 2025 has come and gone. January brought lots of snow and ice to the High Country along with some wintry winds…is it Spring yet? 

January saw 98 closed single family sales in the High Country Association of REALTORS Multiple Listing Service. Of those 98 sales, 78 were in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties, the area we look at most closely when analyzing High Country Real Estate. Of those 78, 13 were condos or townhomes and 65 were single family detached. 

List prices ranged from a minimum of $126,900 to a maximum of $2,990,000 with an average List Price of $583,145 and a median List Price of $425,000.  Sold prices went from a minimum of $113,750 to a maximum of $2,985,000 with an average Sold Price of $558,776 and a median Sold Price of $390,950. 

Maximum was 6/7 with the average being 3/3 and the median was 3/2. The minimum HLA was 0, the maximum HLA was 5760 and average heated living area was 1923. With condos and townhomes in the mix, of course minimum acres was 0, but maximum was 15.34, average acreage was 1.39 and median was .6 acres. 

The average Sales Price to List Price ratio was 96% and the median was also 96%. The average days on market was 116 and the median days on market was 86. 

For a comparison, January 2024 saw 124 closed sales in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties. List prices ranged from a minimum of $89,900 to a maximum of $2,549,000 with an average List Price of $640,978 and a median List Price of $525,000.  Sold prices went from a minimum of $95,000 to a maximum of $2,600,000 with an average Sold Price of $616,548 and a median Sold Price of $491,500.

The average Sales Price to List Price ratio was 96% and the median was 97%. The average days on market was 126 and the median days on market was 76. 

While, normally, such a sharp decline in sales from one January to the next might be a cause for some concern, in the aftermath of Helene, then this January’s heavily wintry weather are understandable reasons for the drop. We believe we will see the numbers revive as weather improves. 

Until then, stay warm!