The end of the winter season is finally in sight. In terms of price appreciation, Charlotte’s residential real estate market continues its brief, seasonal hibernation. Median home prices continue to level off. For example, Trulia reports that the median selling price for a Charlotte home for the three-month period ending February 15 was $184,000. Although this figure represented a year-over-year increase of 2.2 percent, it also represents a decrease of 1.9 percent compared to the previous quarter.
One-bedroom Price Appreciation
However, a more detailed analysis points to strength in the one-bedroom market. The median selling price of this type of single-family residence has increased a hefty 11.3 percent over the past year. Some of this gain might be attributed to lenders successfully working their way through numbers of foreclosed properties that impacting that end of the market in recent years. Meanwhile, two to four-bedroom single-family residences are the subject of single-digit price increases compared, year-over-year.
Continued Inventory Shortage
Inventory remains in somewhat short supply, and this has an impact on the number of homes sold. Trulia reports that, for the quarter ending February 15, the number of home sales decreased 11 percent compared to the same period one year ago.
Movoto reports that new listings continue to be outpaced by the combination of sold homes and expired listings. For the month ending February 15, the online real estate site reports 1,404 new listings and 1,597 sold/expired listings. Still, Movoto reports that total Charlotte inventory was up one percent, month-over-month, from 4,997 listings to 5,042 listings.
The impact of the continued inventory shortage is apparent in the median number of days that listings remained on Movoto. The 61-day time span was 15 percent lower than one month ago. However, the figure was still up nine percent from one year ago. This suggests that the competition remains keen for highly desirable properties.
Low Mortgage Rates
Fortunately, continued low mortgage rates contribute to stability in the residential real estate market. In Charlotte. Relatively stable mortgage interest rates should help both buyers and sellers as spring approaches. Mortgage rates did edge up in February, although they remain close to the historic lows experienced in May 2013. At the end of the month, Freddie Mac said that the conventional 30-year mortgage interest rate rose to 3.80 percent. This rate was more than one-half point lower than the 4.37 rate of one year ago.
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