The town-wide resale median in Cary is $276 per square foot, measured across 1,550 resale sales in the twelve months ending 12 September 2026. Across the 31 subdivisions with enough sales to rank, the figure runs from $196 to $366 per square foot — and it does not track total sale price. Iron Gate posts the second-highest price per square foot in Cary at $341 with a median sale price of $538,500, while Cameron Pond, at a $1,100,000 median sale price, sits well below it at $266 per square foot.
What is Cary’s median resale price per square foot?
$276, town-wide, across resale sales — homes built before 2021 — in the twelve months ending 12 September 2026. That figure sits in the middle of the ranked table below: some established, land-rich subdivisions run well above it, and some higher-priced but larger-footprint subdivisions run below it. A single town-wide figure is a starting point for comparison, not a number that applies evenly to every subdivision or every home within one.
Which Cary subdivisions rank highest and lowest by price per square foot?
Preston leads at $366 per square foot on 37 resale sales, followed by Iron Gate at $341 and Copperleaf at $333. Camden Townhomes at Cary Park sits lowest among qualifying subdivisions at $196, with Twin Lakes and Chesapeake Condos also under $230. The full ranked table below lists median sale price alongside median price per square foot for all 31 subdivisions that recorded ten or more resale sales in this window.
| Rank | Subdivision | Resale sales | Median price per sq ft | Median sale price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preston | 37 | $366 | $1,150,000 |
| 2 | Iron Gate | 12 | $341 | $538,500 |
| 3 | Copperleaf | 10 | $333 | $1,642,450 |
| 3 | Preston Village | 21 | $333 | $1,300,000 |
| 5 | MacGregor Downs | 19 | $310 | $951,500 |
| 5 | Wellsley | 11 | $310 | $824,998 |
| 7 | Park Village | 23 | $300 | $545,000 |
| 8 | Heritage Pines | 15 | $290 | $555,000 |
| 9 | Brookgreen | 13 | $285 | $424,500 |
| 10 | Trappers Run | 11 | $283 | $455,000 |
| 11 | Devereaux | 13 | $282 | $646,000 |
| 12 | The Reserve | 11 | $278 | $975,000 |
| 13 | Lochmere | 55 | $277 | $802,500 |
| 14 | Highcroft | 13 | $276 | $935,000 |
| 15 | Cary Park | 40 | $272 | $853,500 |
| 16 | Scottish Hills | 21 | $271 | $490,000 |
| 17 | Renaissance at Regency | 16 | $269 | $762,500 |
| 18 | Cameron Pond | 13 | $266 | $1,100,000 |
| 19 | Carpenter Village | 26 | $265 | $785,750 |
| 20 | Brookstone | 10 | $263 | $680,150 |
| 21 | Oxxford Hunt | 25 | $262 | $589,000 |
| 22 | MacArthur Park | 12 | $259 | $675,250 |
| 23 | Amberly | 24 | $250 | $817,500 |
| 23 | Walnut Hills | 11 | $250 | $500,000 |
| 25 | Pirates Cove | 12 | $242 | $450,000 |
| 25 | Kildaire Farms | 18 | $242 | $442,500 |
| 27 | Coventry Woods | 10 | $233 | $705,000 |
| 28 | Stonewater | 14 | $232 | $457,500 |
| 29 | Chesapeake Condos | 10 | $227 | $202,450 |
| 30 | Twin Lakes | 14 | $220 | $395,000 |
| 31 | Camden TH at Cary Park | 14 | $196 | $346,500 |
Based on information from the Doorify MLS, Inc. for the period 12 September 2025 through 12 September 2026.
Does a high price per square foot mean a subdivision is expensive?
Not by itself. Price per square foot describes the cost of the building and land relative to floor area — it says nothing about the total price a buyer will pay. Iron Gate ranks second-highest in Cary at $341 per square foot, yet its median sale price is $538,500, below the town’s overall price range for many larger homes. A subdivision can carry a high per-foot figure because its lots or finishes command a premium relative to a smaller floor plan, not because homes there are unaffordable in absolute terms.
Why does Iron Gate rank near the top while Cameron Pond ranks lower, despite Cameron Pond’s higher price?
Because the two numbers measure different things. Cameron Pond’s median sale price, $1,100,000, is more than double Iron Gate’s, $538,500 — but Cameron Pond’s price per square foot, $266, sits below Iron Gate’s $341. That gap is explained by floor area: a $1,100,000 home in Cameron Pond is, on the whole, a larger home than a $538,500 home in Iron Gate, so its cost spreads across more square feet. Comparing subdivisions on total price alone, or on price per square foot alone, tells two different and sometimes contradictory stories — that is the core reason to read this metric carefully rather than treat it as a stand-in for “expensive” or “affordable.”
What actually drives price per square foot up or down?
Land value, lot size, age, and finish level, more than any single measure of desirability. Older, established subdivisions on larger or more mature lots — Preston, Iron Gate, Copperleaf — tend to carry higher land value per square foot of house, which pushes the per-foot figure up even when the home’s total floor area is modest relative to its price. Newer, larger-footprint communities can post a lower per-foot figure while still commanding a high total price, because the cost is spread across more finished square footage. Construction quality and recent renovation also move the number in either direction independent of total price.
How should a buyer or seller actually use this number?
As a comparison tool within a subdivision or between homes of similar age, lot size, and finish level — not as a shorthand for which subdivision is “better” or “worse” value. A buyer comparing two listings of similar square footage in the same subdivision can reasonably use price per square foot to judge relative pricing. A buyer comparing a 1,400-square-foot condo against a 4,000-square-foot home on a quarter-acre lot is comparing two different products, and the per-foot figure will mislead more than it informs. Sellers pricing a listing should treat this figure as one input among several, alongside how quickly comparable homes have been selling, not as a formula.
What is the minimum sample size for a subdivision to appear in this ranking?
Ten resale sales in the twelve-month window, the same threshold used across this site’s Cary market pages. A median built from fewer than ten sales can swing sharply on one unusually large or small home, so subdivisions below the threshold are excluded for reliability, not because their per-foot figures are unusual. New construction is excluded from this ranking entirely; builder pricing and floor plans follow a different logic than resale, and mixing the two would distort the comparison. See New Construction vs. Resale in Cary for that comparison on its own terms.
Who should not rely on price per square foot alone?
A buyer trying to decide between a smaller home in an expensive-per-foot subdivision and a larger home in a cheaper-per-foot one should not let this single number make the decision — total price, lot, condition, and floor plan all matter more for most buyers' actual budgets. A seller should not price a listing purely by multiplying square footage against a subdivision median; an appraiser and a listing agent will weigh condition, lot, and recent comparable sales far more heavily. For total-price and days-on-market context by price tier instead, see Cary Days on Market by Price Range, and for the broader market context behind these figures, see the market section and the Cary overview.
More market reporting
- How Fast Do Cary, NC Townhomes and Small-Lot Homes Sell?
- What Do Homes Under $400,000 in Cary, NC Actually Look Like?
- Where Cary and Wake County Sellers Actually Go When They Leave
- Where Wake County Movers Come From, and Where They Go
- Cary neighborhood studies
About the author
Cameron Smith writes Move Up NC’s real estate guidance for Cary, Morrisville and the North Carolina Triangle.
Editorial note: This article reports market data for a defined period and area. Figures describe closed sales in that window and are not a forecast or a valuation of any individual property.