The Hidden Divide in the Triangle Townhouse Market

By the numbers, the Triangle townhouse market technically showed a slight discount for new construction, however, that statistic appears misleading. The data actually suggests townhouse pricing is being driven far more by location than by whether a unit is technically “new construction.”

Durham’s more favorable zoning and entitlement environment has led to it producing the highest concentration of new-construction sales but still traded at materially lower pricing levels Meanwhile, Cary consistently achieved the highest townhouse pricing and selling quicker despite having the oldest average housing stock in the study. Cary’s premium appears tied to stronger suburban demand drivers (household income, schools, etc).

Another important factor is that the “resale” townhouse inventory across the Triangle remains relatively modern by national standards; average construction years across the sample generally fell in the 2010s. That likely compresses the pricing gap between new and resale product because buyers are often comparing one relatively modern asset against another. The townhouse ownership model may further reduce the impact of age differences, as HOA structures absorb much of the long-term exterior maintenance responsibility.

According to TMLS data, at first glance, the townhouse market (Average DOM: 38 days; Median: 9) is performing similarly to Single Family Housing inventory (Average DOM: 33 days; Median: 11 days). However, when filtering for price and age, the DOM subset data suggests the townhouse market may be softer than broad market statistics initially imply. When older “fixer upper” SFH stock and misleading 0-DOM new construction entries are removed, newer townhomes materially underperform comparable to detached product. Median days on market remained relatively stable across product types, however, the dramatically higher average DOM for newer townhome product points to a subset of projects sitting significantly longer on the market. This is likely reflecting a disconnect between developer pricing expectations and the premium buyers are currently willing to pay relative to newer resale alternatives.