Wilmington & New Hanover.
Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach — the August numbers, and what they mean if you are buying or selling this fall. Refreshed monthly.
The read
Prices slipped. Selection widened.
New Hanover is the most expensive of the three counties and the one that has changed most in the past year. The three-month median sale price is $448,000, down 3.5% from the same period last year, and the typical home now takes 58 days to go under contract versus 37 a year ago. Active listings are up about 10%, price reductions before contract are up 23%, and sales volume is flat at 396 closings for the month.
That is not a falling market so much as a normal one reasserting itself. Sellers who priced to last summer’s comps are the ones sitting past 45 days; homes priced to today’s market in Landfall, Autumn Hall, Ogden and the Mayfaire corridor are still moving inside a month.
Three counties, one region
Where New Hanover sits against its neighbors.
Brunswick has the most inventory and the slowest pace; Pender is the tightest and steadiest; New Hanover is the priciest and the only one where prices are off year over year.
| County | Median sale price | Days on market | Homes sold | Active listings | P&I on the median* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New HanoverNew Hanover County | $448,000-3.5% YoY | 58 days+21 vs last year | 396+0.8% YoY | 1,249+10.2% YoY | $2,372/mo |
| Brunswick →Brunswick County | $409,000+2.2% YoY | 98 days+31 vs last year | 579-7.8% YoY | 2,250+1.6% YoY | $2,166/mo |
| Pender →Pender County | $477,000+0.5% YoY | 76 days+14 vs last year | 115+3.6% YoY | 423-4.9% YoY | $2,526/mo |
*Principal and interest at this week’s 6.95% 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 September 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.
The most choice since 2019.
- Inventory is up 10% and one in three listings has already taken a price cut. Negotiate on price, repairs, closing costs and timing — often all four.
- Do not wait on rates. 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.
- Homes sitting past 45–50 days are usually priced for a market that no longer exists. Median prices are down 3.5%; comps from last summer are stale.
- Treat the first two weeks as your best shot at full price. 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.
$448,000 with 20% down is a $358,400 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 → · Builder rate buydowns as low as 3.25% →
Region-wide
Our latest full-region updates.
Cape Fear Market Update — September 2026
The latest on the Cape Fear housing market: days on market are stretching out. Here is where prices, days on market, and rates stand.
Read the update →Wilmington NC Real Estate Market Update: August 2026 — Inventory Up 20%, Rates Hold at 6.66%
Inventory across the Cape Fear region is up more than 20% year over year in New Hanover and Brunswick counties, homes are sitting on the market roughly a month longer than they did last…
Read the update →Wilmington NC Real Estate Market Update: July 2026 — Inventory Climbs, Prices Split by County
Wilmington’s housing market keeps splitting in two directions. Sale prices in New Hanover County dropped 3.0% year over year to $480,000, while Pender County pushed the other way — up 6.2% to $476,627. What…
Read the update →Sources: Redfin — median sale price is the three months ending August 2026; days on market and homes sold are August 2026, compared with the same month a year earlier. Realtor.com via FRED — active listings, median list price and price-reduced listings, August 2026. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week ending September 17, 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.