It comes as no surprise during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that the real estate market looks a little different than in most years. Many more people are staying in their homes where they are comfortable. Other people are taking advantage of this time to upgrade to larger homes so they can work from home and school their children at home. The data show the trends we are seeing continue are: fewer homes on the market, selling more quickly, for higher prices.
When you look at the report coming from the Canopy Realtor Association based on data from the Canopy Multiple Listing Service, you see the numbers reflect these trends. The entire Charlotte region which includes 12 counties in North Carolina and 4 counties in South Carolina shows that inventory is down to just a 1.2 month supply, down from 2.6 months last year which at the time we considered low inventory. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is considered to be a 4-6 month supply of homes. There were just 5,203 homes on the market, down 51.3% from the same time last year.
These homes are selling more quickly as well, on average going under contract in just 34 days. A sale is generally happening after just 86 days which is very quickly considering time to get a loan underwritten to get a deal to the closing table.
Prices are up year over year with average list price up 11.1% to $360,286. The average sale price is also up, 13.4% to $350,986. This rise in prices clearly shows the law of supply and demand.
New listings were down just slightly from the same time last year. There were 5,572 new listings, down 2% from the 5,687 new listings last August. This is not surprising as many families are deciding not to make any big changes as they are working through changes to school, work, and social life due to Covid.
Pending sales are the biggest surprise this August as they are up 26.5% from last August. There were 5,915 homes that were pending this month which means that sales numbers for next month should be strong as many of these pending sales will head to the closing table.
Homes sold were down just slightly from last year, just 1.3% lower. This is showing that the market is resilient even in the face of so much being different than any previous year. When you look at the year-to-date numbers, sales are just about even with last year which is better than many analysts predicted.
It remains to be seen what the market will do in the coming months, but the numbers are strong at the moment and based on what is currently in the pipeline, it looks to be strong into October. As always, we will be on top of any changes in the market.
