By the end of November, the housing market’s steady growth had reached a new high – but not a scary one.

“We’ve sold more units in the first 11 months of 2015 than we have in any 12-month period of time since 2006,” said Sherri Pickard, president of the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors.

According to WRAR’s MLS, which covers New Hanover, Pender and northern Brunswick counties, 6,774 homes had sold in the region between January and November, an increase of 12.5 percent over the same period last year.

“Our growth is at a sustainable level. Our average sales prices year over year for the first 11 months of 2015 versus the first 11 months of 2014 is 3.62 percent,” Pickard said. “Any time you see an increase in the 3 to 5 percent range, you’re happy about that because that’s a normal growth rate.”

The median sales price for a home in the Wilmington area in November this year was $200,000, compared to $194,500 last November.

While retirees, who are selling their homes as the market improves in the Northeast  and in other parts of the country and moving to southeastern North Carolina in increasing numbers, can account for some of the home sales throughout 2015, the bulk of the market is typically those who already live here who are moving to different homes, Pickard said.

The number of homes sold in November was lower than the same months last year, dropping from 535 to 452, but that’s not unusual for a month when there isn’t a significant break in the school year like there is during the summer months, Pickard said.

“That is entirely consistent with what we know about the behavior of families with children in school,” she said.

Retirees who are moving here, on the other hand, aren’t committed to any particular season, Pickard said, while others who come to the Wilmington are from out of state have to depend on when they can sell their house.

“We see that the most units that we had closed in 2015 were in the months of June, July, August and September,” Pickard said.

With inventory improving and more buyers coming into the market at the same time, “demand is outpacing supply, but it’s not at an unhealthy level,” Pickard said.

As home sales increased throughout 2015, so did the number of new apartments available and under construction. As of the end of the third quarter, 1,269 apartments in seven projects were under construction, while 1,609 have been proposed, according to a report compiled by Richard Cotton, a broker and managing director of Multifamily Realty Advisors.

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