Wilmington & New Hanover.
Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach — the September numbers, and what they mean if you are buying or selling this fall. Refreshed monthly.
The read
Prices steadied. The clock didn’t.
New Hanover is the most expensive of the three counties and the one where the calendar has changed most. The three-month median sale price is $464,000, down 1.3% from the same period last year — a narrower gap than the 3.5% we reported a month ago. The typical home now takes 61 days to go under contract against 34 a year ago, and September closings came in at 339, the same count as September last year.
Active listings are up about 8% to 1,251 and two of every five of them have already taken a price cut, so buyers have both choice and time. That combination, rather than falling values, is what has stretched the calendar. Homes priced to this fall’s comps in Landfall, Autumn Hall, Ogden and the Mayfaire corridor still go under contract inside a month; anything priced to last summer sits.
Three counties, one region
Where New Hanover sits against its neighbors.
Brunswick has the most inventory and the slowest pace, Pender has the least inventory and the biggest price jump on the fewest sales, and New Hanover sells fastest but is the only one of the three still down year over year.
| County | Median sale price | Days on market | Homes sold | Active listings | P&I on the median* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New HanoverNew Hanover County | $464,000-1.3% YoY | 61 days+27 vs last year | 339+0.0% YoY | 1,251+7.6% YoY | $2,570/mo |
| Brunswick →Brunswick County | $394,000+3.7% YoY | 93 days+29 vs last year | 577+3.4% YoY | 2,334+2.0% YoY | $2,182/mo |
| Pender →Pender County | $499,000+16.1% YoY | 83 days+32 vs last year | 109-9.2% YoY | 430-2.1% YoY | $2,764/mo |
*Principal and interest at this week’s 7.40% 30-year rate with 20% down. See the full mortgage update →
The beaches
Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure.
The beach towns run on their own clock. Wrightsville Beach is the region’s premium market and the least sensitive to rate moves. Carolina Beach and Kure Beach trade in a lower band with more second-home and investor activity, and it is there that hurricane-season pauses and higher coastal insurance premiums show up most clearly in buyer behavior.
In our experience a named storm within a few hundred miles stalls decisions for two or three days. The buyers come back. Sellers listing a beach home in October should build that in, and every buyer should get a real insurance quote during due diligence rather than after.
What it means
Buying or selling in New Hanover.
More choice, and more time.
- Inventory is up about 8% to 1,251 homes and two in five listings have already cut their price. Negotiate on price, repairs, closing costs and timing — often all four.
- The 30-year added 74 basis points in eight weeks, so run the payment before you settle on a price range. You can refinance later; you cannot buy at today’s price once it moves.
- Get an actual insurance quote during due diligence, especially east of College Road.
Price to this market, not last year’s.
- The median home takes 61 days to go under contract against 34 a year ago. Past 45 days it is usually the price talking, not the market.
- Treat the first two weeks as your best shot at full price. With the 30-year at 7.40%, expect more negotiation on repairs and terms than a year ago.
- Pre-list inspection and a clean disclosure package shorten the negotiation window.
The payment
What the median New Hanover home costs each month.
$464,000 with 20% down is a $371,200 loan. Here is the principal and interest at this week’s rate, last week’s, and a year ago.
Rates are Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed average. Full mortgage update → · Current builder rate buydowns →
Region-wide
Our latest full-region updates.
Cape Fear Market Update — October 26, 2026
New Hanover's year-over-year decline narrowed to 1.3% on September data and the 30-year fixed eased to 7.32%, its first drop since August.
Read the update →Cape Fear Market Update — October 12, 2026
The 30-year fixed climbed to 7.40%, adding about $100 a month to a $400,000 loan since our last update, while county medians held roughly flat.
Read the update →Cape Fear Market Update — September 28, 2026
New Hanover prices turned negative year over year while Brunswick's gain narrowed, and the 30-year fixed crossed 7% at 7.03%.
Read the update →Sources: Redfin county housing-market pages, read October 17, 2026 — median sale price and days on market are the three months ending September 2026; homes sold is September 2026 against September 2025. Redfin’s downloadable county tracker was still showing May 2026 data on the day of this update, so the figures above come from Redfin’s county pages rather than the tracker. Realtor.com via FRED — active listings, median list price and price-reduced listings, September 2026. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week ending October 15, 2026. County-level figures, not a valuation of any specific property. Payment figures are principal and interest only on a 30-year fixed loan with 20% down; they exclude taxes, insurance and HOA and are illustrative, not a loan offer.
Want a read on your street?
County medians are a starting point. We will tell you what your neighborhood is doing this month.