If you have been watching Holly Springs listings this year, you have probably run into two stories that do not seem to fit together. One says the town's growth is cooling: fewer permits, slower closings, homes sitting longer. The other says Holly Springs is still one of the fastest-growing places in the Triangle, with cranes and framing crews visible from the Bass Lake Park trailhead most weekends. Both are true. The gap between them is the actual story, and it matters more to your search than the median price does.
The short version: Holly Springs did not run out of demand. It ran ahead of its own construction schedule, and the town's own budget documents say so in plain numbers.
The Number Buried in the Budget Message
Every spring, the Holly Springs town manager publishes a budget message that walks through revenue, spending, and development trends for the coming fiscal year. The FY27 message, covering the year that started July 1, 2026, includes a detail that explains more about the current market than any single-month sales report. Single-family and townhome building permits pulled in 2025 fell to under 300, well below the town's 10-year average of about 600. The message attributes the drop mostly to higher interest rates and national market conditions rather than anything specific to Holly Springs.
That is the number that generates headlines about a slowdown. Taken alone, it suggests builders are stepping back and new-construction competition is fading. It is only half the picture.
The Backlog That Doesn't Care About the Permit Count
The same budget message notes that roughly 5,200 residential units already sit approved but unbuilt in the town's development pipeline. Those units cleared planning review, secured entitlements, and are waiting on a builder to pull the permit and start framing. A permit slowdown does not erase an approved plat. It just changes when construction actually starts.
That distinction matters because the town's total real estate value has still grown by more than 7 percent annually on average since 2020, with continued growth projected for 2026. Holly Springs is not behaving like a market that expects demand to disappear. The FY27 budget itself totals $139.2 million, an 18.3 percent increase over the prior year, funded largely by transportation and utility infrastructure meant to serve a town that keeps adding rooftops even when the permit count says otherwise. You do not build for a shrinking future.
Read together, the two numbers say something more specific than "the market is slowing." They say growth paused mid-approval. The land is entitled. The roads are being widened for it. The only thing missing is the timing of when 5,200 more homes actually get built, and that timing depends on builders, not on the town.
Built Out Versus Still Building
This is where the townwide numbers stop being useful and the neighborhood-level picture takes over. Holly Springs is not one market behaving one way. It is a set of communities at very different points in their build-out, and that position determines what kind of competition a seller or buyer actually faces.
| Community | Where it stands | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Oaks (The Club at 12 Oaks) | Largely built out | Resale-driven; limited new inventory to compete with |
| Sunset Ridge | Established | Same dynamic, older product mix, buyers compare you to other resales |
| Holly Glen | Established | Same dynamic |
| Woodcreek | Established | Same dynamic |
| Bridgeberry | Active building | Taylor Morrison is still selling new plans here |
| Addison West | Active building | Davidson Homes is drawing from the approved pipeline near 12 Oaks |
| Regency at Holly Springs | Active building | Toll Brothers' active-adult product, still adding units |
If your home sits in an established, largely built-out community like Sunset Ridge or Holly Glen, the slowdown in townwide permits is genuinely good news. You are not competing against a builder's incentive package or a quick move-in spec home. You are competing against other resales in a neighborhood with little room left to add supply.
If you are in or near an active-building community like Bridgeberry or Addison West, the townwide permit slowdown tells you less than it seems to. Builders in those communities are still working through approved lots, still offering rate buydowns and closing-cost credits that a resale seller cannot easily match. The backlog of 5,200 units has to land somewhere, and it is landing disproportionately in the communities that still have entitled land left to build on.
What This Means If You're Comparing Neighborhoods
A townwide median price or a single days-on-market figure treats Holly Springs as one product. It is not. The August 2026 market data shows a median sales price of $581,250, up 1.1 percent from August 2025, with active inventory up 12.6 percent and closed sales down 12.7 percent over the same period. Median days on market rose to 20 days. Those numbers describe an average across communities that are structurally different from one another right now.
A few things worth working through before you anchor to any single number:
- Ask whether the neighborhood you are considering has active new-home construction nearby. If it does, you are shopping in a market where builder incentives set the comparison point, not just other resales.
- Ask how much approved but unbuilt land sits near a specific community. A quiet street today can look very different once a builder pulls permits on an adjacent parcel.
- Ask what "days on market" means in that specific pocket. Twenty days townwide can hide a two-week sale in one neighborhood and a two-month sale in another.
The Town Is Still Building for the Backlog
The infrastructure spending backs this up. Holly Springs kept its municipal property tax rate unchanged at 34.35 cents per $100 valuation for FY27, the second lowest in Wake County, while still funding a widening project on Holly Springs Road. The next phase, a four-lane median-divided section between Flint Point Lane and Main Street, is set to begin construction in FY27, extending an earlier phase already built between Sunset Lake Road and Flint Point Lane. The town has also partnered with NCDOT on roughly $2 million in intelligent transportation infrastructure, including traffic cameras and signal technology aimed at moving traffic through a town that is still adding residents faster than most of its neighbors.
None of that spending makes sense if the town expected the 5,200-unit backlog to sit untouched. It makes sense if the town expects those homes to get built once builders decide the timing works, and wants the roads ready when they do.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Read the Next Headline
If you are watching Holly Springs from outside, or comparing it against Apex, Cary, or Fuquay-Varina, the permit number alone will not tell you what you need to know. Ask instead how far along a specific community is in its build-out, how much entitled land sits near it, and whether the comparable homes you are seeing are resales or builder spec inventory. The answer changes block by block, not townwide.
FAQ
Does the drop in building permits mean Holly Springs home values will fall? Not based on what the town's own data shows. Total real estate value has kept growing even as permit counts dropped, and the approved pipeline suggests builders paused rather than walked away from the market.
Which Holly Springs neighborhoods have the least new-construction competition right now? Established communities that are largely built out, such as 12 Oaks, Sunset Ridge, Holly Glen, and Woodcreek, have little remaining land for new supply, which puts the competition mostly between resale listings rather than against builder incentives.
If you are trying to figure out where your own Holly Springs home or search fits into that picture, The Sheri Hagerty Group can walk through the comps, the pipeline, and the specific submarket that applies to you. Get a free home valuation and start with the numbers that actually apply to your address, not the townwide average.
