WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE 2025 ASHE HOME MARKET?

The 2025 Ashe single family home market has had twists and turns, an overall slow down, a lower average sales value than in 2024, multiple price reductions, a firm foot in the over $1 mil market
QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE 2025 ASHE HOME MARKET.
For a quick look, here’s a summary of the market:

ASHE COUNTY 2025 HOME MARKET: ODDS OF SELLING

The Odds of Selling graph provides information on how the market is flowing.
364 home sales closed in 2025
29 homes are currently under contract
135 homes are actively on the market
The market rejected 189 homes homes that left the market unsold Homes in Ashe are selling at a rate of almost
33 per month If no more homes came on the market [highly unlikely] a seller could expect it will take 4 months for the home to sell.
A seller faces 55% Odds of Selling, meaning the Ashe market is definitely a buyers’ market, see page 7 The Pond.

Compare that with the market a year ago:

Slightly less homes had closed in 2024. However, 10% more were under contract a year ago. About half as many homes were on the market, and less homes had been rejected in 2024. The Odds of Selling were 65%, the cusp of sellers’ market/buyers’ market.

Two things happened in 2025: more homes came on the market, and there simply were not enough buyers to purchase them all.

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE 2025 ASHE HOME MARKET?

The buying pattern graph tells us about seasonality what time of the year are buyers most active? The 2024 buying pattern is typical for Ashe county . Two things typically happen—a spike of new home listings come on the market in the Spring. And more buyers are active in the summer months.
2025, by contrast, shows a very slow start to buyer interest, with slow sales the first 7 months. The market did pick up the last 5 months, enough that 2025 ended with a similar amount of sales as in 2024.
What the 2025 graph does not portray is that the number of homes coming on the market increased higher than in 2024. Slower sales, more homes on the market — this creates a confusing market that raises the question of how well do the sales comps early in the year predict market values for subsequent sales.

WHAT DO TIME-TO-CLOSE GRAPHS TELL US ABOUT ASHE HOME VALUES?

WHAT DID SELL IN ASHE DURING 2025?

The scattergram pricing graph shows you size of homes sold plus the price they closed at during the last 3 months of 2024.

This graph shows by price range the number of homes sold, active, under contract and market rejected. In Ashe, it is still possible to purchase a home under $100K [not possible in Watauga, by contrast]. The most active market is the $300K to $1Mil range, leaning toward the $500K to $1Mil range. The over $1Mil home sales are firmly selling.

WHAT DOES THE POND GRAPH TELL US ABOUT FLOW IN THE ASHE HOME MARKET?

The Real Estate Pond graph likens a real estate market to the layers in a pond. For Ashe, this shows:

29 homes currently on the market are under contract.
77 of the homes on the market are being shown but not receiving an offer within the the number of days that it takes on the average to sell a home in Ashe: currently 95 Days.

58 of the homes on the market are in the ‘stagnant mass,’ like the mud at a bottom of a pond. Their days on the market have exceeded the 95 days on the market that homes currently sell within in the Ashe home market.

Based on sales patterns from the first 3 months of 2024, the graph predicts that 95 home listings will come on the market in the next 90 days. And that 75 homes will sell in the next 90 days [the 29 currently under contract plus 46 sales that would be the comparable number of sales as in the first 3 months of 2024].

Finally, The Pond indicates the Ashe home market is clearly a buyers’ market at this time, as is reflected in the unusually large number of price reductions throughout the year. Plus, their simply haven’t been enough buyers to purchase all homes on the market resulting in many homes leaving the market unsold.

WHERE HAVE HOMES BEEN SELLING AND FOR WHAT PRICES IN THOSE AREAS?

Contractors built 47 new homes in Ashe during 2025.
12 are currently active
13 were rejected by the market [left the market unsold]
2 are under contract
19 have sold
Sold prices range from $395K for 1478 sq ft on .17 acre to $1,550,000 for 4163 sq ft on 12.81 acres
Average sales value: $ 588K. Average sq ft value: $333/sq ft

Location of new home sales:

The big picture for Ashe homes in 2025:

Sales got off to a very slow start.

This creates a situation where it becomes difficult to know how to price a home accurately. Will the early sales truly represent good sales comps to predict sales later in the year? For sellers: when will they feel confident they will not leave money on the table versus being realistic about getting their home sold, if the sale is a high priority for them? The consequence was an unusually large number of price reductions throughout the year. Homes priced early on are now facing competition from homes that would not previously have been in competition for them homes. Almost no homes are selling for full price.

For buyers this situation creates uncertainty, as well. How low an offer can they make without insulting the seller and possibly resulting in more difficult subsequent negotiations? Or, can they dream of purchasing a home they would prefer with a risk of dis appointment if that can not happen?

The year ended with a few more sales than 2024. Albeit, a drop in sales values.

Realtors hope 2026 will show a more typical buying pattern with a more balanced market. That helps us know best how to advise sellers and realtors. Only time will tell!

Please know that I am always happy to discuss your real estate questions or concerns.