Brunswick County's residential real estate market recorded dwindling numbers last year compared to 2021, but the county's Realtors' association describes the data as getting back to normal.

"After an extended period of rapid sales coupled with an extremely low inventory, Brunswick's home sales closed out 2022 with more typical numbers," according to a news release Wednesday. "The number of homes sold and total sales volume both decreased, average sales prices were higher, and homes spent slightly less time on the market compared to 2021."

The number of residential units sold in 2022 dropped 18%, from 6,779 to 5,556.

“After an insane couple of years, our market inched closer and closer to normalcy throughout 2022,” said Cynthia Walsh, BCAR CEO, in the release. “Thanks to continued strong demand and limited inventory, average sales prices increased throughout the year. While total sales volume is slightly down, it’s important to remember that we saw historic, unprecedented numbers in 2020 and 2021. While last year’s numbers may be lower than prior years, overall our market is in strong shape going into 2023.”

Total sales volume decreased from about $2.7 billion in 2021 to $2.5 billion in 2022.

"Average sales prices for the year were up 10.5% compared to 2021, jumping from $398,772 to $440,574. Homes spent an average of 30 days on the market in 2022, compared to 39 days in 2021," the release stated. "New listings were down 11%, from 7,157 to 6,373."

In December alone, new listings, units sold and total sales volume decreased compared to last year.

"To put the numbers into context, December 2022 saw more homes sold than any other December in the past 17 years apart from 2020 and 2021," according to the release.

Total sales volume decreased 25.9% compared to December 2021, from $243 million to $180 million, while average sales prices were up 1.4%, from $439,610 to $445,799, the release stated.

"Luxury homes may have been the holiday gift of the season, with 17 transactions in excess of $1 million and three in excess of $2 million," according to the release. "On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were more than 50 sales below $250,000 in December. Overall, homes are still selling for roughly 97% of their list price."

New listings fell 11.7% in December, from 368 to 325, and the number of units sold dropped 27%, from 553 to 404.

"Homes spent an average of 41 days on the market in December, up from 32 days," the release stated. "The absorption rate, which is the amount of time it would take to sell all available inventory, decreased to less than 2.5 months in December 2022."