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The Queen City is Desirable, but is it Affordable?

This week, Trulia, released a report examining income of people in various professions in almost 100 major U.S. metropolitan areas to see if they are struggling to afford to buy a home in their community. Trulia is an online residential real estate site with listings and housing data. They examined income data for doctors, teachers, first responders, and restaurant workers for the study. According to their report, Charlotte is among the least-affordable markets in North Carolina for teachers.

The report shows that the average American worker makes $37,040 per year. The median home in the United States costs $254,900. This means the average worker would have to spend 42% of their income on a mortgage if they bought that median home. This is up 6% from two years ago.

Trulia defined affordability as a debt-to-income ratio of 31%. This means monthly housing payments would take up only 31% of monthly take-home pay. Percentages were figured assuming a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed rate mortgage with an interest rate of 4.1%.

Teachers in the Charlotte metro area earn on average $45,683 per year. Trulia’s report shows that only 33% of teachers could afford the median priced home in Charlotte of $299,900. 29% of first responders can afford that same home with an average salary of $41,630. Restaurant workers in the region have an average salary of $20,322 which means only 7% of them can afford the median priced home. Doctors in the area average $208,000 per year and 96% of them can afford the same home.

Two-income households have an advantage in affordability, but if one partner loses a job or takes a leave for family or other reasons, they could be in a real financial bind.

The Charlotte area has been feeling an affordability pinch recently. With a shortage of homes on the market, prices have been going up steadily. In fact, a recent report from Re/Max shows that the median sales price of a home in Charlotte was up 10.1% just between February and March of this year.

There are still some great neighborhoods in Charlotte that fall below the median sales price which are great for single income households. There are also many neighborhoods that fall close to the median price that are great options for dual income households. With prices continuing to appreciate, it is also a great option to purchase a starter home and work your way up to a more expensive home after a few years. The city is also working on getting many more affordable housing units included as part of most new developments.

No matter where you are in your home buying journey, New Angle Realty can help you. Call us at (704) 525-4045 or visit our website to view listings here.

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New Neighborhood Businesses Coming to Dilworth

This week it was revealed that a few new businesses are coming to the space once inhabited by 131 Main and Cu Copper. These new businesses are going to be a great addition to Dilworth, and a welcome spot for locals to enjoy.

131 Main was closed in April of 2016 after a third fire in six years. The location at 1315 East Boulevard at Scott Avenue has sat vacant since that time.

The People’s Market anticipates that they will open late in summer. They plan to offer an all-in-one market, deli, bakery, and cafe. The plan is to offer prepared foods, catering, coffee, and a large selection of craft beer and wine. Additionally, expect more eclectic and unique items to draw in customers.

It appears that The People’s Market wants to poise itself to be in a similar market space as Common Market mixed with a bakery like Amelie’s French Bakery & Cafe. This means they will be open from breakfast through late night and will be available for take-away as well as in store service. Live music on the patio is a distinct possibility.

Next door to The People’s Market, a new cocktail bar will take over the place of the former Cu Copper. (Not to be confused with the upscale Indian restaurant Copper.) The bar will feature upscale craft cocktails using local and regional ingredients. The Queen & Glass will also offer small plates, tapas style, to complement the drink menu.

Cory Duran is the founder of both concepts which will have a “high-end industrial feel”. Hopefully his vision will be a boon to the neighborhood and will be a great gathering place. The location is great as it is walkable for many people.

If you are interested in a home in Dilworth, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. To view listings in Dilworth, visit our website here.

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Millennial Buying Habits Appear to be Changing

Are you attached to the home you currently own? If you are, you join 79% of homeowners in the Charlotte area. Bank of America conducted a survey of homeowners where they concluded that 79% of Charlotte residents could see themselves staying in their current homes for the rest of their lives. Homeowners here are proud of their homes and treasure the memories they have made. Traditional thinking has it that millennials are more interested in long-term renting than buying until they can find a forever home.

The survey helped Bank of America compile their second annual Homebuyer Insights Report. The national survey for the report looked at answers from 4,906 adults across the country. The bank focused on responses from 300 adults from 10 markets. The survey was conducted by GfK Public Communications and Social Science. The ten markets Bank of America focused on included Charlotte, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.

In the Charlotte area, 83% of homeowners believe home ownership has had a positive impact on their finances. 84% of homeowners are trying to make their homes more valuable by fixing up, adding on, updating, decorating and more.

Additional insights from the report include that millennials are much more interested in home buying than they have been before. Of millennials who have bought homes, 79% feel that home ownership has had a positive long-term impact on their finances.

It appears that the perception that millennials prefer long-term renting is incorrect. The study shows that they are buying homes or are interested in buying homes. They are realizing that buying a home can be more affordable than renting, and it does not have to mean that they have a harder time relocating. This means that the home they buy does not have to be a forever home, which is a shift from the previous year’s report when they said they might rent until they found a home they could live in forever.   

If millennials are more inclined to buy a home, it may make the housing market even tighter than it is currently. There could be more buyers vying for the small inventory in the Charlotte area. This could give the advantage in a bidding war to an older buyer with more buying power or equity to invest. We will definitely keep an eye on this trend.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also set up a customized search for homes on our website here.

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Rental Market Update

Charlotte’s rents are on the rise, which is great news for landlords, but not such great news for tenants. According to Apartment List, the Charlotte area had the second highest rental rate jump in the state last year just behind Wilmington. The 5.1% increase from March 2016 brings the median rent for a 2 bedroom unit to $1,210. To put that in perspective, the state had a yearly increase of 4.2% and the nation as a whole only increased by 2.4%.

If you look at numbers produced by Zumper, median rent on a two bedroom unit was $1,270. Based on their figures, that is an 8.5% jump for the year and 3.3% up from the previous month. Zumper lists Charlotte in a tie for 25th most expensive metro area in the country.

This means that a tenant would need to make more money to keep their same quality of life as rents increase. According to Zillow, they would need to make an extra $384 annually. This 0.7% increase in median salary would allow a tenant to pay rent and still have the same amount of disposable income. Zillow pegs the median rental rate in Charlotte at $1,248. According to their predictions, rents will rise around $32 per month to $1,280 by this time next year.

If the Fed increases interest rates again, which is predicted to happen two more times this year, these additional costs could be passed along to tenants in the form of rate hikes as well. These figures also don’t take into account any other increases a tenant might have aside from rent so they could feel the squeeze from higher healthcare costs, higher grocery bills, or a host of other factors.

The Charlotte population is on the rise so there is plenty of interest in new rental units. In fact, Charlotte just topped the entire nation with the most rental units added in the first quarter of this year.  Charlotte added 9,347 units for a 5.9% increase. This topped the 100 largest metro areas in the country. These numbers, from MPF Research, are encouraging and are well above the 1.8% national average.

Zillow predicts that there could be a slow-down of rent appreciation in hot markets like New York and San Francisco. It will be a welcome change for those areas, and could signal a change countrywide. There has been a push in most major metropolitan areas to add more affordable housing options to ease the affordability crisis. Charlotte is no exception to that trend. Affordable units are part of many of the newly announced uptown projects.

If you are interested in an investment property so that you can add a passive income stream, call us at (704) 525-4045. If you are done renting and want to purchase a home of your own, call us at (704) 525-4045. To view listings on our website, click here.

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March Market Statistics

The Charlotte Regional Realtor Association published their monthly report today. For yet another month, inventory is down while home prices are up. Home sales are up from last year at the same time. There appears to be no end in sight for this current trend.

The downward slide in inventory continues with a drop of 20.3% to a 2.4 month supply. There were 9,212 homes on the market in March, down from 11,562 homes at this time last year. The 11,562 homes represented a 3.3 month supply.

There were 3,965 homes sold in March, up 11.5% from 3,557 homes in March 2016. In February of this year, there were 2,570 homes sold so the number of homes sold in March was up 54% from February. In 2016 this was only a 39% jump from February to March showing just how strong home sales this year have been compared to last year. Maybe it’s the amazing weather helping sales this year.

As is usually true about the law of supply and demand, when supply is low, prices go up. This has been true for the Charlotte area. Average sales prices were up 10.4% over last year to $271,351. The median sales price rose 11.6% to $220.950.   

Once homes hit the market, they are not staying there long. The average time from list to close is now 104 days. That is down 18 days from 2016, a decrease of 14.8%.

It appears that more homeowners are trying to take advantage of the spring season as new listings were up 6.2% from 5,648 last year to 5,999 this year. Pending sales also increased from 4,404 last year to 5,116 this year, a 16.2% jump.

Homes are selling for an average of 96.9% of list price. This is up from 95.6% of list price in March of last year. This follows the trend we are seeing of homes getting right around list price and in some cases multiple offers.

Home prices and sales could slow as the year progresses as the Fed has already indicated that they will be hiking interest rates two more times this year. This could make mortgages harder to obtain for first time buyers, and pricier for all other buyers. It remains to be seen how much, if any impact that has in Charlotte’s hot market.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

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News Around SouthEnd

Amos’s South End/Gin Mill

Amos’s SouthEnd is undergoing a transformation. The music venue closed after a final show in early March, and is now undergoing a transformation to be the new location of the Gin Mill. Amos’s closed in part due to the mixed-use development across the street being built by Beacon Partners. The development is where patrons of Amos’s used to park their cars. Without the lease of the land for parking, it was harder for patrons to get to the venue. In addition, the venue was worried about noise complaints from the new residents.

The new Gin Mill will include a bar for libations, a stage for live music, and food. There will also be a 1,000 square foot rooftop patio and a game room. This will be a nice change for the Gin Mill as they currently do not serve food.

The plan calls for exposing the original brick and adding garage door/windows to harken back to when the building was a Studebaker dealership in the 1950’s. Expect this venue to be around town for quite some time. They have a 5 year lease with an option for another 10 years. The build out should take around 3 months so expect them to open sometime in the summer.

 

Palmer St.

Charlotte’s Gold District is about to have an arcade game bar. The Gold District is bounded roughly by Summit Avenue, the railroad tracks, Winnifred Street and Morehead Street. Palmer St. is in a warehouse at 412 W. Palmer Street, just up the way from Craft Tasting Room and Unknown Brewing. They plan to have 20 craft beers on tap, selected bottles and cans of beer, and food. They have over 30 classic video games and pinball machines. Expect them to open in the next 10 days. Palmer St. is at the start of what may be a trend of taking over the industrial Gold District. Some restaurants are already in the area so it is definitely an area we are watching.

 

If you are looking for a home in SouthEnd, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes in SouthEnd on our website here.

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UNC Wins and HB2 Repealed

Only UNC winning the National title is bigger news than the repeal of HB2 in North Carolina right now. The Tar Heels won 71-65 over Gonzaga bringing home their seventh title last night. Fans across the state and across the country were celebrating this improbable win and counting it as redemption after coming up short last year.

Hopefully North Carolina will have the same kind of redemption after the repeal of HB2. Governor Roy Cooper signed legislation last week repealing the controversial law. The repeal will hopefully be the first step in repairing the damaged reputation we have gotten in the media. Many companies and sporting events have pulled out of the state over the bill, so hopefully the repeal will bring that business back.

Experts estimated that monetary losses due to HB2 were between $380 million and $750 million, but the total number is not yet known. It is easy to quantify the businesses that vocally decided not to relocate here and the ones that decided not to expand their business holdings here. What is harder to quantify is the number of businesses that decided quietly against North Carolina. There is a perception that the state is intolerant and that could stick around for a lot longer than the bill.

North Carolina’s economy is fueled by new jobs and many of those come from out-of-state relocations. Hopefully the repeal will show people that we are a great place where people are working together, across the aisle, to repair our damaged reputation and extend equal protections to all people.

Another benefit to the repeal is that North Carolina is once again eligible to host the NCAA Championships. These championships bring prestige and tourist dollars to the state each year. Cities like Durham and Cary are aggressively campaigning to be tournament locations for next years contest.

In addition, being an all inclusive state, one not tolerant of discrimination, is a great draw for millennials. Millennials have lots of buying power and earning potential so making our state attractive to them can only help us in the long run.

If the repeal of HB2 has gotten you excited about the real estate market in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. We would love to talk to you about it and help you find the home of your dreams. You can also view homes and create custom searches on our website here.

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Home Affordability

A new report was released by Attom Data Solutions about affordability of homes in the Charlotte area. Attom Data Solutions is a California-based real estate data firm. They publish an “affordability index” based on percentage of average wages needed to make monthly payments. The payment number includes property taxes, home insurance, and mortgage insurance for a median-priced home. Their data is for 379 counties in the US. The wage data was from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median home prices were calculated from public sales records.

According to the report, in Mecklenburg County you need 24.8% of your annual wages to cover payments on a median priced home of $195,000. Wages are growing here by 5%, but home prices are growing slightly faster at 5.4% so the percentage of wages needed to cover a house payment seem likely to rise as well.

In York County in South Carolina, a buyer would spend 38.6% of their income to pay for a home. The median sales price for a home in York County is $218,500. Home prices are rising much faster here than wages. Home prices here had an annual median growth of 19.3%. This far outpaces the wage growth of 8.8%.

In Union County in North Carolina, homeowners need a shocking 42.1% of their annual wages to pay for a median priced home. Median priced homes in Union County are $218.500 with a median home price growth rate of 14.7%. With wages only increasing at 6%, buyers may feel the pinch in their wallets.

 

Mecklenburg County

Affordability Index 102

% of Annual wages needed to buy 24.8%

Q1 median sales price $195,000

Annual Average weekly wage growth 5%

Annual median home price growth 5.4%

 

Union County

Affordability Index 96

% of Annual wages needed to buy 42.1%

Q1 median sales price $218,500

Annual Average weekly wage growth 6%

Annual median home price growth 14.7%

 

York County

Affordability Index 84

% of Annual wages needed to buy 38.6%

Q1 median sales price $204,000

Annual Average weekly wage growth 8.8%

Annual median home price growth 19.3%

 

As mortgage interest rates are expected to rise two more times during this year, there may be a slowdown in the median home price growth percentages. There is still a shortage in inventory in the Charlotte area which keeps home prices on the rise due to the laws of supply and demand. With the repeal of HB2, there could be more people seeking out the Charlotte area as we anticipate the probable return of the NCAA tournament and other businesses and sporting events that left in protest. We will keep an eye on the situation and will let you know how it shapes up.

If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can also view homes on our website here.

 

To read the full article in the Charlotte Business Journal about the Attom Data Solution report, click here.

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Check out Madison Park

A new construction home in Madison Park

According to a recently filed rezoning petition, Charlotte homebuilder Saussy Burbank is looking into developing a new infill townhome project. The site is located at 3620 Park Road and would contain up to 19 townhomes on 2.2 acres. This infill development joins many others around Charlotte. If you can’t wait for Saussy Burbank’s new project, why not explore nearby Madison Park.

Madison Park is a well connected neighborhood. The Lynx Blue Line runs up and down the west side of Madison Park. Park Road on the east side contains many options for shopping, dining, and nightlife. Parks and greenway access are close by as well. Even with all of the connectivity, Madison Park maintains a quiet feel and is great for families of all types.

Park Road Shopping Center is right around the corner for grocery shopping, dining, fitness, and more. Montford Drive is also right in the same area for nightlife of all sorts including a bowling alley with trendy restaurant inside. If you can’t find what you need in nearby Park Road Shopping Center, you can head down the way a little bit to SouthPark Mall. There you will find world class dining, shopping, and outdoor entertainment.

Originally built in the 1950’s, many of the homes in Madison Park retain a timeless charm. Most original homes range in size from around 1,000 to 2,500 square feet. Many homes have been updated, remodeled, or added on to so some are now much larger than their original footprint. Styles range from traditional brick ranches, to mid-century modern, to Cape Cod to split level. Many homes have original hardwood floors, and unique architectural features.

There is a homeowners association in Madison Park that helps keep the overall feel of the neighborhood consistent and helps to retain property values. Dues are small and help cover 4 annual events, a spring egg hunt, community fall festival, trunk-or-treat, and holiday social.

Tree lined streets in Madison Park have bike lanes and sidewalks. Residents are seen outdoors taking advantage of mature landscaping, chats with friendly neighbors, kids playing, or just out for a stroll. All of these features have made Madison Park a hot neighborhood lately. An average of 9.6 homes per month have sold here over the past year at an average price of $308,098.

If you are interested in a home in Madison Park, give us a call at (704) 525-4045 and we will schedule a tour. You can also view homes in Madison Park on our website here.

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Zoning Updates

This week, Charlotte City Council had their monthly zoning meeting. They meet every month on the third Monday. There are a few upcoming projects on the docket and it sounds like some of the upcoming projects are stirring mixed feelings in the community. Here are some of the projects under consideration.

 

The project getting the most backlash from neighbors is a 24 duplex townhome development on a 6.3 acre site on Sharon Lane between Providence Road and Heathmoor Lane. This rezoning request by Alan Simonini Homes and Saratoga Asset Management has neighbors worried about density, character and concern that it might set a precedent for subsequent development.

The expected 24 units would start at 3,400 square feet and $1 million. Both city staff and the zoning committee recommend approval for the petition. With some council members absent for the vote, the petition was deferred to City Council’s business meeting. More than 1,200 neighbors have signed a petition against the project and residents have packed the council chamber for hearings. Neighbors want to preserve their historic neighborhood and they are worried that this development will be a catalyst for negative change.

 

Another subdivision providing much contention in City Council is a 20 townhome project on 4.1 acres on Old Providence Road near Old Providence Lane. CW Development heads the project and residents seem fine with most of the proposal. However, a city ordinance requires connection to both Old Providence Road and Old Providence Lane. This would require cutting down some old growth trees that could act as a buffer between communities. A sidewalk would be required on the connecting streets as well.

Residents do not want the private road to exit onto Old Providence Lane as they are concerned about traffic cutting through causing safety and traffic problems. This has been an issue for many zoning petitions and the hope of residents and developers is a change to the ordinance. This project will come before City Council in a future meeting so we will see if they set precedent by changing the ordinance.

 

Also on the docket this month was a proposal by Barringer & Smith Properties and Alan Simonini Homes to build 16 townhomes in South End. The site is .7 acres on West Tremont Avenue between South Tryon and Hawkins Streets. The development is easily walkable from the Lynx East/West Boulevard Station and would be great for commuters. Neighboring businesses were concerned about new residents complaining about noise as the development is in a traditionally industrial area. Many businesses have been pushed out of South End after similar complaints. City Council approved the zoning request so the development will go forward.  

 

If you are interested in purchasing a new construction townhome, call us at (704) 525-4045. You can also view townhome listings on our website here.