Forest Hills is too small and trades too rarely to have a dependable neighborhood median: the plat holds 200 lots, and on September 30, 2026 the entire neighborhood had two active listings, at $559,000 and $910,000. The steadiest published benchmark is the Census median owner-occupied value of $522,200 for Census Tract 104, and in practice a Forest Hills price is set by the condition of the house and which high school the address feeds, not by any average.
We get this question from buyers who have found the neighborhood on a map, loved the canopy and the lot sizes, and want to know what it takes to get in. The honest answer is that you cannot shop this neighborhood the way you shop a subdivision with forty closings a year. You wait for the right house, and then you price that specific house.
Forest Hills sits inside Wilmington city limits in New Hanover County, ZIP 28403, about a mile east of the 17th Street hospital corridor. The stock is old for this market, with a median year built of 1954 in the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, so brick ranches and two-story Colonial Revival houses sit next to recent infill on the lots that came open. That mix is exactly why a single median would mislead you.
What is actually on the market, and what it tells you
On September 30, 2026, Coldwell Banker’s Forest Hills search returned four listings, two of them active. The first was 827 Colonial Drive, four bedrooms and 2,089 square feet, asking $559,000 after 400 days on market. The second was 318 Colonial Drive, four bedrooms and 2,747 square feet, asking $910,000 after 39 days. Both pending listings were the same address, 735 Finley Place, a lot and a new house at $2,478,775.
Read those three lines together and you have the whole pricing lesson for this neighborhood. The gap between $559,000 and $910,000 is not location, because the two houses are on the same street. It is condition, square footage and how recently the kitchen and systems were touched. And 400 days on market on the lower-priced house is the clearest evidence we can give you that asking the wrong number here does not produce a slow sale, it produces no sale.
- 200 lots recorded in the plat; Census Tract 104 held 3,012 people and 1,215 occupied units, 879 of them owner occupied, median household income $136,830 American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, and the school district subdivision layer
- Median owner-occupied home value in Tract 104: $522,200, plus or minus $62,476 American Community Survey 2020 to 2024, table B25077
- Median year built 1954 American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024
- Two active listings on September 30, 2026: $559,000 after 400 days, and $910,000 after 39 days Coldwell Banker Forest Hills search, read September 30, 2026, via our Forest Hills guide
- New Hanover County median sale price $448,000, down 3.5 percent year over year, 58 days on market against 37 a year earlier, 1,249 active listings countywide Our New Hanover County market update, three months ending August 2026
- Combined property tax rate 0.6375 percent: New Hanover County 0.306 plus City of Wilmington 0.3315 per $100 in FY2026-27 New Hanover County and City of Wilmington FY2026-27 rates
- About 11 percent of the neighborhood is in a Special Flood Hazard Area along Burnt Mill Creek; about 89 percent is Zone X FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer clipped to the neighborhood boundary September 30, 2026, FIRM panel 3720312700K effective August 28, 2018
- Median annual flood policy cost inside the City of Wilmington: $879 outside the mapped hazard area, $1,371 in Zone A or AE FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP policy data, single-family policies effective on or after September 1, 2025, retrieved October 15, 2026
- 30-year fixed mortgage rate 7.40 percent Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, October 8, 2026
Why the county number is the wrong comparison
Our New Hanover County market update puts the county median sale price at $448,000 for the three months ending August 2026, down 3.5 percent year over year, with 58 days on market against 37 a year earlier and 1,249 active listings countywide. Those are the conditions you are negotiating in, and they matter here: a wider market with slower absorption is what lets a mispriced house sit for 400 days.
What that county figure is not is a Forest Hills value. The Census tract median of $522,200 sits well above it, and the houses on the water-adjacent or fully renovated end sit well above that. We will not take a county median, adjust it by a percentage and call the result a neighborhood price, because that is manufactured data. If someone shows you a tidy Forest Hills average, ask how many closings it is built on.
The three things that actually move a Forest Hills price
Condition, because the median house is seventy years old
With a median year built of 1954, the question behind every offer is what has been replaced and when. Roof, HVAC, electrical panel, plumbing supply lines, windows and the kitchen are the six line items that separate the two asking prices on Colonial Drive. Price the renovation before you make the offer, not after the inspection, because on a house this age the inspection report is long by default.
The high school assignment, which changes inside the neighborhood
Running the neighborhood boundary against the New Hanover County Schools address locator on September 30, 2026, Forest Hills Global Elementary and Williston Middle serve the whole plat, New Hanover High serves four of the five study areas, and the southern edge, study area 152, is assigned to John T. Hoggard High. That split is the single most consequential fact on a Forest Hills price sheet. In the Department of Public Instruction 2025-26 accountability data, grade level proficiency across all subjects was 43.6 percent at New Hanover High and 69.8 percent at Hoggard, with four-year graduation at 81.6 percent and 90.6 percent. Buyers price that difference, so run the exact address through the district locator before you write.
The creek, and what it does to insurance and lending
Burnt Mill Creek runs through the middle of the neighborhood and FEMA maps it. Clipping the National Flood Hazard Layer to the boundary on September 30, 2026, about 89 percent of Forest Hills is Zone X, minimal hazard, and about 11 percent is Special Flood Hazard Area along the creek, including a regulatory floodway. For a coastal city that is a good result, and it is precisely why the determination on the parcel decides your carrying cost: inside the City of Wilmington the median single-family flood policy costs $879 a year outside the mapped hazard area and $1,371 in Zone A or AE, from FEMA’s own policy data for policies effective on or after September 1, 2025. A lot backing to the creek and a lot three streets up are different loans. Our flood zone and flood insurance guide covers what an elevation certificate can change.
What it costs to hold once you own it
New Hanover County bills 0.306 and the City of Wilmington 0.3315 per $100 of assessed value in FY2026-27, a combined 0.6375 percent, roughly $3,329 a year on the tract median of $522,200. The city rate rose 4.9 cents in the budget council passed in June 2026. There is no HOA here, no amenity fee and no design review, which cuts both ways: no dues, and nothing stopping the teardown next door beyond city zoning. On insurance, the Department of Insurance and the Rate Bureau settled on statewide homeowners base rate increases of 7.5 percent on June 1, 2025 and 7.5 percent on June 1, 2026, with coastal territories above the statewide average, so ask for your named storm deductible in dollars rather than as a percentage.
Every number on this page has a caveat we would rather say out loud than bury. The Census tract median of $522,200 carries a margin of error of plus or minus $62,476, it is owner-reported value averaged over five years, and Tract 104 is slightly larger than the plat locals call Forest Hills, so it is a benchmark and not a comp. Two active listings cannot be averaged into anything. And because so few houses trade inside the boundary, an appraiser on your purchase will almost certainly reach outside it for comparable sales, into Carolina Heights or Westbrook-Ardmore or newer stock on the other side of Market Street, which is how a Forest Hills contract can appraise below what the neighborhood feels like it is worth. If you need a defensible number for a specific house today, the honest path is a broker price opinion on that address, not a neighborhood median.
Related questions people also ask
Is Forest Hills expensive compared to the rest of Wilmington?
Yes, measured against the county. The Census median owner-occupied value for Census Tract 104 was $522,200 in the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, while our New Hanover County market update puts the county median sale price at $448,000 for the three months ending August 2026. Median household income in the tract was $136,830 in that same survey. What you are paying for is lot size, canopy and a six-minute drive to downtown, not a new house.
How long do homes take to sell in Forest Hills?
There is no reliable neighborhood figure, because so few houses change hands. The two active listings on September 30, 2026 had been on the market 400 days and 39 days, which is the spread rather than an average. Countywide, the typical home took 58 days to go under contract in the three months ending August 2026, against 37 days a year earlier, per our New Hanover County market update.
Does Forest Hills have an HOA?
No. There are no association dues, no amenity fees and no design review in Forest Hills, and the City of Wilmington historic districts list does not include it, so no historic overlay governs what your neighbor builds either. City zoning is the only control. Check the title work for covenants recorded on the individual lot rather than assuming none exist.
Pick the specific address, then do three things before you talk price: run it through the school district locator, pull the flood determination on the parcel, and get a renovation estimate on the roof and the systems. If you want those three answers assembled into a number you can actually offer, bring us the address and we will work it with you.
Sources: Coldwell Banker Forest Hills, Wilmington listing search, read September 30, 2026, as published on our Forest Hills community guide. American Community Survey 2020 to 2024, table B25077 and housing and income tables for Census Tract 104, New Hanover County. Our New Hanover County market update, three months ending August 2026. New Hanover County and City of Wilmington FY2026-27 property tax rates. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer clipped to the neighborhood boundary September 30, 2026, FIRM panel 3720312700K effective August 28, 2018. FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP policy data, single-family policies effective on or after September 1, 2025, City of Wilmington, retrieved October 15, 2026. New Hanover County Schools address locator, run September 30, 2026. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction 2025-26 accountability data. North Carolina Department of Insurance and North Carolina Rate Bureau homeowners settlement, increases effective June 1, 2025 and June 1, 2026. City of Wilmington historic districts list. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, October 8, 2026.
