With high turnover and list prices on the rise, experts say the real estate market in North Carolina is booming during the coronavirus pandemic.
The median home value for North Carolina at the end of August was $214,726, according to the online real estate database Zillow. That’s a 6% climb from this time last year, and it’s expected to keep rising. But there’s a certain subset of high-priced houses that tend to stay on the market longer, no matter how fast other homes get snapped up.
“It’s smoking,” residential real estate analyst Stacey Anfindsen told McClatchy News. “But not for the price range you’re looking at.”
Anfindsen was referring to the most expensive listings in North Carolina, which are listed between $7 million and almost $17 million. Those houses typically sit on the market for six months to a year before selling — and sometimes longer, according to Anfindsen.
Here’s a look at the most expensive home for sale in North Carolina, as well as other high-priced houses across the state.
No. 1: $16,490,000
Address: 1 Auditorium Circle, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, 28480 United States
Listing agent: Sotheby’s International Realty
About the property: Realtor.com named this $16 million listing the most expensive home for sale in North Carolina. It’s 8,622 square feet and sits on a quarter of an acre next to the Wrightsville Beach Causeway on Harbor Island, according to Realtor.com.
Construction on the house finished in 2019, and it was reportedly built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The home has four bedrooms, five full bathrooms and one half-bath, the Sotheby’s listing states. It’s described as “Mid-Atlantic Hawaiian Modern” inspired “by the postwar phenomenon known as tropical modernism.”
“With a structural steel moment frame, deep cantilevered overhangs, cast-in-place architectural concrete, and horizontally juxtaposed ipe rain screen siding — it leads the way for appropriate modernism in the Mid-Atlantic United States,” the listing states.
No. 2: $8,995,000
Address: 7505 New Sharon Church Road, Rougemont, NC 27572
Listing agent: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
About the property: This seven-bedroom house in Orange County is about 30 minutes north of Durham. At almost 16,000 square feet, the home boasts three stories, nine full bathrooms, three half-baths and a total of 22 rooms, according to the listing.
Built in 2008, the estate has a pool, fitness room, fenced yard and has been described as “ideal for an equestrian property.”
“A truly remarkable estate perfectly situated in a setting of 250 acres of rolling hills and unspoiled views, yet less than 30 minutes from Duke University, RTP, Durham, or RDU airport,” the listing states.
With “too many features to list here,” the broker says the property “must be seen in person to fully appreciate.”
“You will not find another property that matches the quality of construction, land and location anywhere near the Triangle,” the listing states.
No. 3: $8,900,000
Address: 1453 Mountain Springs Road, Linville, North Carolina, 28646 United States
Listing agent: Sotheby’s International Realty
About the property: This 11,000-square-foot home in western North Carolina sits at the foot of Grandfather Mountain State Park in Linville. It has five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two half-baths, according to the listing.
The property includes a 60-foot lap pool, a three-car garage, an upstairs apartment and a 1,360-square-foot guest cottage.
Built in 1996, the house is made of “stacked stone, cedar shingles, a slate-tiled roof and showcases an open-concept design,” the listing states. It’s part of the Grandfather Golf and Country Club and is “surrounded by the Nature Conservancy of Grandfather Mountain State Park on three sides and the golf club on the fourth side,” according to the listing.
No. 4: $7,995,000
Address: 407 Sylvan Lane, Wilmington, NC 28409
Listing agent: Intracostal Realty Corp.
About the property: At 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, this custom house sits on about seven acres of land with “panoramic views of the creek, Intracoastal Waterway, Masonboro Island and the Atlantic Ocean,” according to Intracoastal Realty’s listing.
The house, designed by architect Ligon Flynn, was built in 1996. It has several covered porches, a “newly updated kitchen,” two-car carport and detached four-car garage as well as horse stables. The property is gated and has a private pier with a floating dock.
It also has historical significance.
According to the listing, the property was “part of a 70 acre tract of land at the mouth of Hewletts Creek owned by James Osborn Carr that was his summer home until his death in 1949.”
Carr was a prominent attorney and politician in North Carolina in the late 1800s and early 1900s, according to NCpedia.
Masonboro Sound has been a popular summer destination for decades, and “homes were first built in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries,” the listing states. William Hooper, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina, had a summer home there.
No. 5: $7,500,000
Address: 483 Rosemont Drive, Durham, North Carolina, 27713 United States
Listing agent: Sotheby’s International Realty
About the property: This Durham home built in 2006 is 15,675 square feet with five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three half-baths, according to the Sotheby’s listing. It’s located in the gated community of The Hills of Rosemont.
The master suite encompasses “an entire wing of the home’s entry level” and includes an “antique Italian glass chandelier in the bedroom, an office, and a private screened porch.” The bathroom has white marble flooring and showers with granite counter tops and heated floors, the listing states.
There’s also a 900-square-feet recreation room, a wine cellar and tasting room, a billiards room, a wet bar, a home theater, a heated saltwater lap pool and an 1,100-gallon saltwater aquarium in the house.
The property is reportedly enveloped by forested federal land and a seven-foot deer fence. The listing describes it as a “world-class estate” that is “far from the madding crowd.”
Hayley Fowler is a reporter at The Charlotte Observer covering breaking and real-time news across North and South Carolina. She has a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and previously worked as a legal reporter in New York City before joining the Observer in 2019.