Charlotte home prices rise, even with pandemic

“Inventory challenges were already an issue even before the pandemic, and they continue to persist. This means home prices in our market will likely continue to rise due to increased competition among buyers in a tight market,” 2020 Canopy Realtor Association/Canopy MLS President John Kindbom said.

Homes are also selling faster — on average, they go under contract in 36 days compared to 38 in July 2019. This is according to The Canopy Realtor Association’s data for the Charlotte region’s market, released on Tuesday.

Inventory: The data show that inventory is down nearly 50 percent from last year. In July 2020, 5,580 homes were for sale; in July 2019 there were 10,629.

Even in April, about a month into the pandemic, inventory was at 7,556. The market saw a sharp drop in June, down to 5,700 homes on the market.

This isn’t too far from what agents predicted might happen this summer, though.

[Related Agenda guide: Hot homes on the market right now]

Cost: List price is way up, about 16 percent, and sales price  — the amount buyers actually paid — rose, too. The median sales price ($285,000) and the average sales price ($344,991) rose 7.5 percent and 10.6 percent, compared to this time last year.

List, median, and average sales prices are all slightly up (about 0.2 percent) from last month. And there’s a good chance we continue to see a steady increase month over month.

Mortgage rates: It’s a seller’s market right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to buy.

You’ve probably heard by now that mortgage interest rates have reached “historic lows” — with some conventional 30-year fixed-rate loans now under 3 percent — which of course  brings down the cost of monthly payments. Despite having fewer, more expensive options, these low rates are likely what’s motivating people to buy right now.

Suburbs are in, Uptown is out: Pending sales in desirable exurbs of Alexander and Cleveland Counties more than doubled this July compared to 2019. Same goes for Davidson, which is located within Mecklenburg County.

Meanwhile, Uptown has had a year-to-date slump with 16.7 percent drop in average home sale price and fewer sales than 2019. July was a better month than others, though, with an increase in new listings and pending sales.

Zoom out: Charlotte is more expensive to live in than other areas in North Carolina, like the Triangle area, for example. MLS data shows homes there (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) sold for $339,323, on average, in July — $5,000 less than in Charlotte.

But the Queen City is still less expensive than other big cities. In the Washington, D.C. area, for instance, the median home price for July was $530,000, close to double Charlotte’s median sales price of $285,000. Homes in D.C. are also getting snatched up quicker, with an average of only eight days on the market.

Charlotte, the Triangle, and D.C. are all following the same general trends, though: inventory down, housing cost up.

Know of any newsworthy listings, have a fixer upper story to share, or want to invite the Agenda in for a home tour? Send a note to [email protected]. Related Agenda real estate guides: Best custom home builders in Charlotte, Best architects in Charlotte, and Best interior designers in Charlotte.