The Charlotte Regional Realtor Association has released their monthly report of home sales statistics based on data from the Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. According to the report, home prices in the region continue to be higher than previous months. The average sales price rose year over year to $265,761, an increase of 8.3%. The median price also rose 12.9% to $227,000.
Pending sales were up 8.3% from 2017 with 4,092 sales pending at the time the report was released last Friday. There were 2,792 sales that closed in February, representing a 3.4% increase over 2017.
Despite these gains, inventory was down yet again from a 2.6 month supply to a 2.0 month supply, a decrease of 23.1%. There were only 8,035 homes on the market at the time of the report. This leaves homebuyers with fewer choices, and makes competition more common when a home does come on the market. Buyers are at a disadvantage in negotiations as there are more buyers than sellers at this time.
Buyer demand may be steady, but new listings were down year over year from 4,695 down to 4,627 representing a decline of 1.4%. This means that we can’t expect a reversal of the market any time soon.
It will be interesting to see what will happen as the FED has recently raised rates, which usually tracks with a corresponding rise in mortgage rates. This could cause a slow-down of the market as people may not be able to afford large mortgages. We will keep tracking the trends.
If you are interested in a home in the Charlotte area, give us a call at (704) 525-4045. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.