Western North Carolina – The moratorium on foreclosures and evictions has ended and North Carolina residents rank among the top 10 states in fear of being evicted from their homes, a study found.
About 35 percent of residents surveyed in the state say “…they can’t currently pay rent or are worried they won’t be able to in the next two months,” the study said. North Carolina ranked seventh in the list with Alabama at the top followed by Georgia, North Dakota, South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi. Rounding out the top 10 are New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
The state ranked 33rd place when it came to foreclosures, with about five percent worried about being foreclosed on by their lending institutions.
“Our analysis also found that people of color are having a harder time paying their mortgages. Black and Hispanic communities are nearly twice as likely to be facing eviction than white communities,” stated the study by Nick VinZant, a Senior Research Analyst and Insurance Expert at QuoteWizard. The study goes on to say, “White communities, however, are less likely to be behind on their mortgage but more likely to be facing foreclosure.”
Whites (18%) were more likely to be foreclosed on, followed by Blacks (14%), Hispanics (13%) and then Asians (9%). In comparison, Blacks (36%) were more likely to be evicted, followed by Hispanics (33%), Asians (20%) and Whites (17%).
This news comes after record sales for the local area where pricing for homes continues to climb, sales of homes outpace the previous year’s, while inventory for homes to sales decrease by double digits.
“Our local real estate market continues to mirror national trends with low inventory and competitive offers from buyers. While not every listing on the market is going to receive multiple offers and sell in a day, it is certainly not uncommon for that to be the case, especially in high-demand areas that historically have received competition from buyers,” said real estate agent David Player with Lusso Realty. “A seller’s market continues for Western North Carolina – When you have less than six months of inventory of available homes for buyers, it is considered a Seller’s Market – and we currently have limited inventory.” In fact, one news report said that there were only two months of inventory on the market.
Plyler went on to say, “There are several factors driving this current market – historic low-interest rates have allowed more buyers to enter the market or make it more appealing for those on the fence. With COVID and the ‘stay at home’ mandates, many businesses were forced to rethink operations. Now, some workers can work remotely from anywhere, so they are choosing to live in areas that they may not have been able to before. We are also seeing people leaving larger metropolitan areas for more rural ‘socially distanced’ settings for various reasons and Western North Carolina has appealed to many.
“All of these factors have led to competitive buyers, and in many instances, cash buyers who found great equity in their homes they sold in other areas of the country with a higher cost of living. This resulted in driving up home prices and, in many instances, homes selling for above their list price and with many of the traditional concessions being waived. It truly is the definition of ‘supply and demand’ economics.
“More locally, we are seeing that some buyers are pumping the brakes on their home search in hopes that we will shift to a more balanced market. But for the moment, it is still very high demand and a great time to list a home if that fits a seller’s situation.”