To buy the median $448,000 New Hanover County home at 6.95% with 20% down, you need roughly $112,000 a year. A lender will approve you for less than that.

Month to month, renting is cheaper in Wilmington, and it is not close. Buying wins over a longer horizon because your payment stops moving.

Lending standards, DTI ratios, and the doc-prep moves that get coastal buyers to a clean approval in 2026.

The relationship between rates and prices is messier than headlines suggest. Here's how Wilmington is actually moving.

Why Your Mortgage Rate Isn’t Dropping (Even Though the Fed Cut Rates) If you’ve been watching interest rates and wondering, “Why is my mortgage still above 6% when the Federal…