As home prices continue to rise in the tri-county area, supply has not been meeting demand, a factor that has affected the decline in sales in the first quarter of 2019, according to a Cape Fear Realtors news release Monday.

“However, the low inventory is not slowing the demand for homes, with days on market [decreasing] 13 days from last year to a low [of] 30 days,” stated the release. “Ongoing housing price increases and affordability concerns in many local markets continues.”

The average sales price in the tri-county region, which includes all housing types including detached single-family homes and attached homes, such as townhomes and condos, increased 6.6% from March 2018 to March of this year.

The average home sales price in the tri-county was nearly $305,000 in March.

Year-to-date (YTD), the average home sales price in the three counties went up 5.4% as compared to the same months last year.

New listings and total homes for sale continue to decline year-over-year, and last month marked a 14-year low, stated the release.

Monthly supply decreased 17.8% in the tri-counties from March 2018 to 2019 to a 3.7 month supply, meaning the Cape Fear region was in a seller’s market.

New Hanover and Pender counties followed the tri-county's housing sales trends for March and the first quarter of 2019.

March average home sales price in New Hanover County was $328,887, a 12% increase from March of last year. YTD, the average home price in the county increased 10.6% from Q1 of 2018.

Monthly supply fell by 25% in New Hanover, the largest decrease out of all three counties.

About 10% fewer New Hanover County homes were sold in March, and the median days on market dropped by 12 days to 18 days in March.

Pender County home sales went down 5.7%, or 249 homes, from Q1 of 2018 to Q1 of this year. Homes in Pender sold for an average of $303,583, up 11.7% from last March.

Brunswick County was the only county in the Cape Fear region that saw a slight decrease in average home sales price.

The average home sales price in Brunswick was $280,933 in March, down 1% from March 2018. YTD, Brunswick County home prices saw little change with a 0.2% decrease from Q1 2018 to Q1 2019.

There were fewer homes sold in March in Brunswick County, down 3.1% from last March.