The number of homes sold in June in the Wilmington area was the highest for any single month since local Realtors began keeping track of the statistics in 1998.

According to the figures released Tuesday by Cape Fear Realtors, 1,100 homes sold in the CFR market in June this year, compared to 969 last year, a 13 percent increase. The last time the number of homes sold during one month broke the 1,000-unit mark was in June 2005, when 1,001 homes sold, the CFR statistics show.

Last month's median sales price of $230,000 represented a nearly 6.5 percent increase over June last year, and the average sales price showed a 2 percent rise, from about $264,000 to more than $269,000, according to CFR's numbers. The CFR market includes home sales in New Hanover, Pender and northern Brunswick counties.

​Compared to June 2016, the days on market (DOM) decreased again, from 96 to 83 last month, while the number of new listings barely rose at all.

“Existing-home sales continued to trend upward in June 2017 to show robust demand for buying homes across the Cape Fear Region. Low supply levels helped propel the average sales price to new highs while decreasing the median days a home is on the market. The dwindling supply of homes in certain price ranges is a concern; we need more homes listed to keep up with this demand," said Neal Johnson, president of Cape Fear Realtors, in a news release. 

The regional market numbers were buoyed by sales outside of New Hanover County; home sales in New Hanover County by itself were flat last month compared to June 2016. 

"We really are equating that to our inventory. Our inventory’s extremely low; there just aren’t enough homes on the market for people to pick from and have a big choice from," Johnson said. "With the inventory being low like that, I think that’s what's slowed down the pace of the sales [in New Hanover County]."

In the whole of the Cape Fear Realtors market from January to June 2017, the total number of homes sold rose 18.5 percent, the average sales price rose 4 percent and total sales volume increased by 23 percent.

For its report Tuesday, CFR also broke the figures down by county: 

NEW HANOVER COUNTY: The average home sales price for June 2017 was $301,654 or 2.2 percent higher than that in June 2016; this is up 7.1 percent year-to-date (YTD) from 2016. Sales units were flat with 542 units sold in June 2017 when compared to 541 units sold in June 2016; this is still up more than 7.6 percent year-to-date. The monthly supply level dropped 16.5 percent to a 4.1-month supply from the June 2016 supply of 4.9 months. The 2017 YTD supply level dropped 22.7 percent to a 3.8 month supply level compared to the 2016 YTD supply level of 5 months. The report said, "Median Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) reduced an incredible 58 percent to 15 days in June 2017."

PENDER COUNTY: The average home sales price for June 2017 rose 21.5 percent to $297,901 compared to June 2016; this is up 9.1 percent YTD from 2016. Sales units rose 13.8 percent to 178 units sold in June 2017 compared to 157 units sold during the same month last year. The monthly supply dropped 7.3 percent to a 5.5-month supply from the June 2016 supply of 6.7 months. The 2017 YTD supply level was down 28.1 percent to a 5.4-month supply level compared to the 2016 YTD level of 7.6 months.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY: The average home sales price for June 2017 rose 8 percent to $254,498 when compared to June 2016; this is up 8 percent YTD from 2016. Sales units jumped up 32 percent to 520 homes sold in June 2017 when compared to 394 in June 2016. Units sold are up over 27.4 percent YTD for 2017 when compared to last year. The monthly supply level dropped 24.2 percent to a 6.8-month supply from the June 2016 supply of 9 months.
 

Cape Fear Realtors market year-to-date

	Jan.-June 2016	Jan.-June 2017	% change
Total units sold	4,228	5,011	18.52
Avg. sales price	$246,272	$256,238	4.04
Median sales price	$204,053	$208,638	2.25
Days on market	102	89	-13.09
New listings	6,479	6,900	6.5