Triangle entry-point? Wendell townhouses selling for $300,000 east of Raleigh
New townhouses have hit the market with price tags starting at $300,000 in the fast-growing satellite town of Wendell, east of Raleigh.
Magnolia Townes, built by one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, Taylor Morrison, has opened on Sweetbay Tree Drive off Lake Glad Road. It’s less than a mile to downtown Wendell, and about 20 miles from downtown Raleigh, with access to I-540 and I-87.
Townhouses range from 1,641 to 2,632 square feet with three and four bedrooms. One- and two-car garages occupy the first floor. Third-floor game room or flex space is offered on the third with bedroom and bathroom.
Other amenities include butterfly garden and greenway trails.
Despite inflation and higher mortgage rates, “we’ve had quite a bit of interest from both Realtors and home shoppers,” said Mike Reynolds, Raleigh division president at Taylor Morrison.
As an incentive, the builder is also offering 2-1 buydown loans, allowing buyers to save on the interest rate for the first two years of the loan.
“With principal and interest payments on a brand-new townhome potentially lower than many apartment rents, we expect current renters to quickly determine that they would rather own a home versus continuing to pay rent,” Reynolds said.
Fast-growing satellite town
Settled in the 1850s by tobacco farmers, the once-sleepy Wendell is one of the region’s fastest-growing towns, not only in Wake County, but in all of North Carolina.
As growth spills over from Raleigh, Wendell’s population grew nearly 16%, to 11,570, from 2021 to 2022, Census data found. Today, it’s closer to 12,440. That’s more than double the number of people who lived here in 2010, and four times its population in 1990, WUNC reported.
Investors are pouring millions into the town to meet surging demand.
WakeMed opened its new 12,000-square-foot Wendell Healthplex in January. It’s close to Wendell Falls, a 1,000-acre master-planned community on the west side of town.
To the north, Wake Tech Community College is building a new 100-acre campus. It’s expected to open in fall 2024.
Home prices continue to edge up.
In January 2024, Wendell home prices were down 3.8% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $398,000, Redfin found. But they’re still up 9% from January 2019.
On average, homes sell after 65 days on the market compared to 100 days last year. There were 21 homes sold in January this year, up from 19 last year.
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