— Turner Home Team · Proprietary Market Intelligence · Spring 2026 —

Eastern NC:
Where Smart Investors
Are Buying Right Now

We ran the numbers on 43 counties across Eastern North Carolina. Here’s what the data actually says about where to buy, where to wait, and where to walk away — and what’s coming this spring.

43
Counties Analyzed

21
Buy Zone Counties

90–120
Day Hold Window

May–Jun
Target Exit Window

The Overview

This Isn’t Gut Feeling.
This Is the Data.

At Turner Home Team, we don’t guess at markets — we measure them. Over the past several months, we’ve been building out a proprietary scoring model specifically calibrated for cash buyers operating with a 90–120 day hold window and a target exit during the Spring/Summer 2026 selling season.

We pulled raw monthly data across 43 Eastern North Carolina counties, covering sold listings, active inventory, sale-to-list price ratios, and days on market — then ran every number through a weighted scoring system that rewards fast-moving markets, strong spring seasonality, and seller-favorable pricing dynamics.

What we found was telling. The ENC region is highly bifurcated right now. A handful of counties are primed for exceptional spring rebounds. Others are dead weight. And the difference between a 24-day contract and a 90-day slog often comes down to one or two data points most investors aren’t tracking.

“Right now — in late winter — virtually every ENC county is in its seasonal trough. That’s not a warning sign. That’s the entry window. The counties with the biggest spring bounces are exactly where you want to be buying today.”

Top Score Possible

100

Onslow County earned it — the only perfect score in ENC

Fastest Est. Contract

14 days

Wake County — high-velocity market, shorter seasonal pop

Largest Spring Bounce

+112%

Camden County — thin market, massive seasonal swing

Counties in Buy Zone

Grade A or B, strong fundamentals, spring tailwind

How We Built This

The Scoring Model

Our 100-point normalized score weights five factors specifically chosen for a cash buyer’s 90–120 day hold-and-flip strategy. Here’s how the points break down:

CDOM Score

Days on market before contract. Fastest markets score full points. CDOM >90 days is an automatic AVOID disqualifier.

90-Day Outlook

Spring volume + seasonal bounce composite. Rewards markets with strong spring rebounds. Winter weakness is not penalized.

Sale/List Ratio

How close to asking price sellers are actually getting. Markets above 97% signal strong buyer competition.

Absorption Rate

Months of supply. Under 3 months is green. 3–5 is orange. Over 5 is red. Lower absorption = faster exits.

Volume

Monthly sold transaction count. Thin markets (<10/mo) receive a 40% score penalty. <20/mo gets 20% penalty.

Contract CDOM projection formula: Spring CDOM (Apr–Jun avg) × (1 – velocity discount – 15% pricing aggression – seasonal bounce discount). Range applied: -15%/+20%.

Raw Market Data

12 Months of Real Numbers:
The Top Buy Zone Counties

Before we get to projections and adjustments, let’s look at the actual underlying data. The following tables show raw monthly sold listings, active inventory, sale-to-list ratio, and average CDOM for our top Buy Zone counties — Feb through Jan (the full trailing 12 months). This is what the scoring model is built on.

Onslow County Score: 100 · Grade: A

Spring/Summer avg: 425 sold/mo · Winter avg: 327 sold/mo · Spring bounce: +30%

Metric	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
Sold Listings	296	369	430	465	442	455	390	385	379	288	351	263
Active Listings	1,019	1,012	1,062	1,144	1,210	1,233	1,230	1,200	1,207	1,251	1,182	1,103
Sale/List %	97.4	97.8	97.5	98.3	98.0	98.0	97.6	97.3	97.3	97.7	97.0	96.6
Avg CDOM	68	71	67	64	52	48	52	52	57	56	68	68

New Hanover County Score: 94.5 · Grade: A

Spring/Summer avg: 388 sold/mo · Winter avg: 294 sold/mo · Spring bounce: +31.8%

Metric	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
Sold Listings	261	329	397	402	438	396	363	320	347	266	329	241
Active Listings	1,034	1,143	1,272	1,340	1,338	1,283	1,286	1,267	1,299	1,257	1,155	1,059
Sale/List %	95.9	96.7	96.7	96.7	96.0	95.5	95.2	95.1	95.4	95.6	94.5	94.3
Avg CDOM	69	61	56	50	54	53	64	57	67	55	79	69

Craven County Score: 94.5 · Grade: A

Spring/Summer avg: 165 sold/mo · Winter avg: 137 sold/mo · Spring CDOM drops 17 days

Metric	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
Sold Listings	110	140	155	180	175	150	190	180	170	120	140	100
Active Listings	430	470	500	520	560	580	545	535	525	525	520	515
Sale/List %	96.6	96.5	96.2	96.3	97.5	96.5	95.6	95.8	95.1	96.0	96.2	94.9
Avg CDOM	65	60	70	55	50	52	55	55	65	75	82	100

Wake County Score: 94.5 · Grade: A · Fastest Market

Spring/Summer avg: 767 sold/mo · Winter avg: 677 sold/mo · Highest raw volume in ENC

Metric	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
Sold Listings	620	710	760	790	810	780	750	770	740	680	650	600
Active Listings	2,450	2,520	2,700	2,850	2,900	2,950	3,000	3,100	3,200	3,150	2,900	2,800
Sale/List %	97.8	98.1	97.6	98.3	97.9	97.5	97.2	96.9	96.5	96.2	96.8	96.0
Avg CDOM	42	40	38	35	33	36	39	41	45	48	52	55

Spring 2026 Projections

What We’re Projecting After
Making Our Adjustments

After applying our exit-window modeling adjustments — accounting for 15% pricing aggression, velocity discounts tied to sale-to-list ratios, and seasonal bounce factors — here’s what we’re projecting for the Spring 2026 selling window across our top Buy Zone counties.

The key adjustment: we’re not using raw spring CDOM. We’re discounting it significantly for competitive pricing posture and for the velocity each market has historically demonstrated. The result is estimated contract timelines that are materially shorter than the raw data would suggest.

Onslow County

SCORE 100 · GRADE A · PERFECT MARKET

Raw Spring CDOM61 days

Velocity Discount Applied-35% (97.9% ratio)

Projected Contract CDOM24 days

Contract CDOM Range20–29 days

Est. Total Hold~80–89 days

Spring Volume Bounce+48.2%

Projected Exit Sale/List95.4–98.4%

New Hanover County

SCORE 94.5 · GRADE A · COASTAL MARKET

Raw Spring CDOM53 days avg

Velocity Discount Applied-35% (95.5% ratio)

Projected Contract CDOM21 days

Contract CDOM Range18–25 days

Est. Total Hold~78–85 days

Spring Volume Bounce+48.0%

Spring CDOM Drop-10 days vs winter

Wake County

SCORE 94.5 · GRADE A · FASTEST EXIT

Raw Spring CDOM35 days avg

Velocity Discount Applied-45% (≥98% ratio)

Projected Contract CDOM14 days

Contract CDOM Range12–17 days

Est. Total Hold~72–77 days

Monthly Sold Volume722 avg (highest ENC)

Spring CDOM Drop-10 days vs winter

Craven County

SCORE 94.5 · GRADE A · BEST CDOM IMPROVEMENT

Raw Spring CDOM59 days avg

Velocity Discount Applied-35%

Projected Contract CDOM23 days

Contract CDOM Range20–28 days

Est. Total Hold~80–88 days

Spring Volume Bounce+41.7%

Spring CDOM Drop-17 days vs winter

Bottom line: For a 90–120 day cash buyer targeting a May–June 2026 exit, the window to acquire is right now — February and March 2026. You’re buying into the seasonal trough across every Buy Zone county. The data says spring is coming, and in ENC, spring doesn’t whisper — it roars.

Turner Home Team

Proprietary market intelligence for Eastern North Carolina real estate investors. All data sourced from trailing 12-month MLS activity. Scoring model and projections developed exclusively by Turner Home Team for cash buyer strategy optimization targeting 90–120 day hold windows and Spring 2026 exit.

This analysis is for informational purposes and represents proprietary modeling. Past seasonal patterns do not guarantee future results. Contact Turner Home Team for market-specific strategy consultation.

Eastern NC: Where Smart Investors Are Buying Right Now

This Isn’t Gut Feeling. This Is the Data.