Even though low mortgage rates kept potential buyers on the housing hunt in August, inventory in the Charlotte market continued to drop off.
Inventory fell 17.5 percent compared to August 2018, with 9,412 homes for sale, leaving the region with just a 2.3 months of supply inventory, according to the most recent data from Canopy MLS.
Condo-townhomes listed for sale in the Charlotte region also dropped to only 1,049 properties, a decline of nearly 8 percent since August.
Six months of housing inventory is typically referred to as a balanced market where neither the buyer or seller is at an advantage.
According to Canopy MLS data, sellers in the Charlotte region have been slowly gaining the upper hand since 2013, the last time the Charlotte market had a six-month supply of inventory. For comparison, in August 2013 there were 16,847 homes listed for sale.
There were 5,621 new residential listings in August, which was a 1.4 percent decrease year-over-year and nearly unchanged from July.
As expected, demand for the fewer available homes on the market is driving list prices and median sales prices.
Homes are not sitting for long once listed. They remained on the market an average of 44 days in August, down 4.3 percent from the year-ago period. Average list prices were up 6.5 percent to $329,260.
The average and median sales prices rose 5.5 percent ($310,691) and 5.2 percent ($257,850), respectively. Both figures dropped slightly from July.
Pending sales are a strong indicator of buyer demand, and those numbers rose 18.5 percent to 5,096 from the same period a year ago. Compared to July pending sales dropped.
Year-over-year home sales in the Charlotte region dropped just 2.9 percent, which amounts to 4,735 homes sold compared to August 2018. Overall sales rose 2.3 percent from July, and year-to-date sales were up 1.6 percent compared to the same point in 2018.
Canopy MLS’s monthly report is based on data from 12 North Carolina and four South Carolina counties.
Here is a snapshot of what is going on in specific regions within the Charlotte region:
City of Charlotte: Median sales prices +4.9% to $255,000; Inventory -14.7% to 2,519 (1.8 months supply); and pending sales +24.5% to 1,666.
Mecklenburg County: Median sales prices +5% to $340,674; Inventory -11% to 3,458 (2 months supply); and pending sales +23.9% to 2,107.
Union County: Median sales price nearly unchanged at $315,638; Inventory -26.1% to 806 (2.2 months supply); and pending sales +10.4% to 423.
Uptown Charlotte: Median sales price -27.2% to $255,000; Inventory -10.8% to 83 (2.9 months supply); and pending sales -27.9% to 31.
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