If you are a seller in the Charlotte area, you are in a great position to get top dollar for your home because buyer demand is strong. This is evident from the new data published by Canopy Realtor Association based on data from the Multiple Listing Service. According to the June report, you can see the rise in demand based on the pending listings which rose 26.8% from last June to 6,174. This could be the start of the delayed spring season as the pandemic slowed the market drastically across the 12 counties in North Carolina and 4 counties in South Carolina covered by the Canopy Realtor Association.
Where you see the real impact of the pandemic is in the available inventory. We had already been on a trend of low inventory in the area. This month is a dramatic drop to just 1.3 months of inventory or 5,701 listings. This is down from last year at this time when we had 10,698 homes for sale representing 2.6 months of inventory. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is typically considered to be a 4-6 months supply. This means that sellers have the upper hand in transactions and could find themselves able to choose from multiple offers and have great bargaining position.
Sales have fallen again for the third month, but not as far as some analysts feared. In April, sales fell 20.8%, in May they fell 30.4%. The June numbers show that sales are down just 1.8% year over year. The sales number could be strong again in July as many of the homes under contract will head to the closing table.
New listings are down this month, but only by 8.5% which is lower than expected during these times of quarantine. There may be some lost confidence from sellers, or it may simply be that the market is slower to return to it’s normal robust place we expect in June.
When you look at Lake Norman, you see that inventory is down about half from last year, but closed sales and pending sales are both up. There are only 17 fewer new listings that at the same time last year so the market there is not as slow as the rest of the market. This makes sense as many people are working from home so why not have a home on the lake since there is no worry about a long commute.
Lake Wylie on the other hand, looks more like the rest of the Charlotte market with low inventory and new listings down 34%. You still see the strength in closed sales and pending sales and all parts of the market are showing gains in prices due to lack of supply.
It remains to be seen how long we may see the market be affected by the pandemic. As soon as there is good news about a vaccine and life can get back to normal, we should see the market return to normal as well. Until then we will continue to monitor signs of recovery and resilience in the market.
