It’s been a while since we talked about the real estate market in the Charlotte area, and there are positives and negatives about this time of Covid-19. When you look at the data as of the end of April from Canopy Realtor Association, the first thing you notice is that there is historically low inventory. In fact, inventory was already low from a general trend of the past few years where inventory continued to dip lower while was low pushing prices higher.
There is now just a 1.8 month supply of homes for sale in the area. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is considered to be a 4-6 month supply of homes. This low supply gives more power to sellers in a transaction. You see this power differential in homes selling above list price and in multiple offers on a home.
There was also a large dip in new listings on the market. This is not surprising since most of us are sheltering in place at the moment and are reluctant to list our homes. There were just 4,258 new listings, down 26.6% from 5,802 last year at the same time.
Pending sales were also down year over year from 4,907 last year to 4,045 this year. This represents a decline of 17.6%. This will probably show a decline in next month’s closed sales as these homes will head to the closing table.
Closed sales declined 20.8% year over year. Last year there were 4,464 sales that closed in April and this year there were only 3,534. This shows the general trend of a slowdown in the market due to the virus.
The positive in all of this is that if you need to sell your home, you can expect to get top dollar for it right now. Average sale price was up from $303,769 to $325,403. This represents an increase of 7.1%. The median home price rose from $254,500 to $275,000, which is an increase of 8.1%.
Homes are selling quicker than last year as well with the average days on the market before a contract coming in at 38. This is down 19.1% from 47 days last year at this time. This is great news if you are a home seller, but can put extra pressure on you if you are a buyer. Buyers need to have all of their paperwork ready and be pre-approved for loans to make sure they have the best chance of getting the home they want.
The process of buying or selling a home is typically stressful as it is usually the single biggest investment you will make in your lifetime. In this unusual year, it can be more stressful than ever before. Showings are different right now as it is much easier to show a vacant home because of the virus. This means temporary living situations or buying a new home before you sell your existing home. Realtors have to be more savvy than ever before as they need to have great virtual tours and even virtual open houses to show properties to buyers.
It remains to be seen if there will be a slowdown in the virus so that the market will recover quickly, or if it will be a slower recovery. There is one thing for certain, people need shelter and this is a great time to upgrade to a home with more space, better amenities, larger yards, better internet, or closer to family and friends. The virus has shown us that we can work most jobs from home so lets make sure our home is in the location we want near the people who mean the most to us.
