For the tenth consecutive month, existing-home sales have dropped according to the National Association of Realtors. The data for Existing-Home Sales for November was released at the end of December. Decemberâ€s report will be released at the end of January.

All four regions in the U.S. saw month-over-month decreases.  The four regions also recorded year-over-year declines in transactions. Single family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops saw a 7.7% sip in completed homes sales from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million in November. Year-over-year sales dropped by 35.4%. Compared to November of 2021, that is a decrease of 6.33 million.

“In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows.”

The total inventory of houses registered at the end of November was 1.14 million units. This is down 6.6% from the month prior but up 2.7% from a year ago (1.11 million). There is a 3.3-month supply of unsold inventory at the current pace of sales. October saw an identical inventory however itâ€s up from the 2.1 months of inventory from November 2021.

Yun says affordability in 2023 will continue to be a challenge, but there will be less competition for homebuyers as more properties come onto the market. 

“What happened in 2020, 2021, multiple offers, situations like that will not repeat,” Yun said.

In the Charlotte area, there is still a high demand for housing but not enough of it.

“Housing stock is low, basically no matter what, weâ€re not going to change the housing stock shortage for several years,” John Connaughton, professor of financial economics at UNC Charlotte, said. “So, that will keep pressure on prices of single-family homes.”

Realtor.com anticipates a slight decline in homes sales this year by 0.3% however home prices are forecast to increase 5.5%

Meanwhile, the median existing-home price for all housing types across the nation in November was $370,700. This is an increase of 3.5% from November of last year and marks 129 straight months of year-over-year increases. Itâ€s a record for the longest-running streak.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac, averaged 6.31% as of mid-December. That’s down from 6.33% the week prior, however it is up from 3.12% one year ago.

“The market may be thawing since mortgage rates have fallen for five straight weeks,” Yun added. “The average monthly mortgage payment is now almost $200 less than it was several weeks ago when interest rates reached their peak for this year.”

Yun believes this year won’t be a buyer’s or seller’s market as it will be more balanced. 

The post 7.7% Drop in Existing-Home Sales in November appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

A new report released this month by UNC Charlotteâ€s Childress Klein Center for Real Estate (CKCRE), the Charlotte housing market is showing signs of softening but itâ€s becoming difficult to find homes that are priced affordably. 

The “2022 State of Housing in Charlotte” report, says home buyers and renters in the eight-county region are entering a second year of high prices and a lack of affordable housing. According to the report, only 25% of the houses are sold for under $300,000 while 3.8% of the houses sold for half that price. 

“In particular, the prices at the lower end of the distribution have increased much faster than at the higher end, causing significant concerns for housing affordability in the region,” said Yongqiang Chu, CKCRE director and the primary author of the housing report.

The dramatic rise in interest rates in recent months has made housing affordability much worse. The 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates rose from 2.96% in January 2021 to almost 7% in September 2022.

Middle-income housing affordability is becoming a challenge for the region. For a median-priced home, the required income has increased from $89,816 in 2020 to $136,750 in 2022. This is an increase of 73%. The median home price in Charlotte increased from $237,500 in January 2020 to $420,000 in September 2022. That is a 54% increase in 32 months.

The combination of rising interest rates and house prices have made housing unaffordable in the Charlotte region.

“At some point this will become a serious concern for people who want to do business here,” Chu said. He went on to say that there needs to be an increase in supply and offered two solutions to the problem. First, make development easier by regulations and restrictions and then build on green space.

“We should be willing to make those compromises, before Charlotte becomes really unaffordable and people donâ€t want to live here anymore,” Chu said. 

While the market does continue to be tight, there are some signs of softening since this past summer. The median number of days a house is on the market has increased from three days to nine days in the months of May 2022 to September 2022. Prior to the pandemic, the median days on the market was about 20 days. 

The report also found that over the last few years, the average rent has increased by 27% per unit or $320, a swift acceleration in rental prices.

You can click here to see the full report from CKCRE.

The post New Report: Affordable Homes in Charlotte “Increasingly Difficult to Find” appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

According to the latest RE/MAX National Housing Report, home sellers accepted offers below their listing prices on average based on data from August. This is further indication of the housing market rebalancing which is a source of relief for prospective homebuyers who have faced an incredibly competitive market. Out of the reportâ€s 51 metro areas, the average close-to-list price ratio was 99% in August. This means that homes sold for 1% less than the asking price. This is down from 101% in July and 104% in April. 

“Patient buyers were rewarded in August, as prices softened from July. Sales increased as buyers ‘bought the dip’ – which was not the trend many people were expecting. The activity modestly depleted inventory, although the number of homes for sale remains significantly higher than this time a year ago,” said Nick Bailey, RE/MAX President and CEO. “The late-summer burst of activity underscores the housing market’s resiliency. Despite the uptick in interest rates and concerns about the economy, demand remains strong. We’ll see what happens from here, but the August bump in sales was great news for the industry.”

The numbers however still show that it is more expensive to buy a home in Charlotte and has been for over a year. 

The median home sale price in Charlotte went up slightly from July to August per the report. This is up 1.3% from $395,000 to $400,000. The opposite happened with the median listing price. The price dropped 1.3% from July to August– $400,000 to $395,000.

Year over year, both prices have seen significant increases.

According to RE/MAX, the median listing price for the Charlotte metro area has jumped 12.9% in the past twelve months. In August 2021, The price was $349,000 compared to $395,000 in August 2022. The median sales price meanwhile has jumped 16.1% from $344,500 to $400,000 in the same time frame. 

Charlotte had 5,723 active listings in August which is up 77.4% from a year ago. According to the report, there were 3,226 active listings a year ago in August. 

Compared to the national average, Charlotteâ€s median home sale is less expensive. According to RE/MAX, the national average is $410,000. The report notes however that Charlotte is in the top five markets in the country for median sale price increases year-over-year.

The national trends for housing inventory in the report showed Charlotte isnâ€t an outlier, with an active inventory increase of 20% in the last 12 months but down from July by 1.8%.

Rising mortgage rates are expected to help cool the housing market country-wide. “The cumulative effect of this sharp rise in rates has cooled the housing market and caused the economy to start slowing, but hasnâ€t done much to lower inflation,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst.

The last time the 30-year rate rose to over 6% was during the 2008 housing crash. The interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is at 7.20% a .16 increase from just a week ago (7.04%).

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While homebuyers are still navigating record-high prices along with mortgage rates that are up over 5%, recent data released by the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) college of business notes that the average home in Charlotte is selling for about 55% more than its expected amount. If youâ€ve purchased a home in the Charlotte region recently, itâ€s likely you overspent by more than $100,000.

Itâ€s important to note that while the data shows overspending, it is not an analysis of how much homes are appraising for. Those numbers are based on the fair market value and calculated on a case-by-case basis. The fair market value or FMV is the determined price that a property will sell for in an open market. It is agreed upon by the buyer and seller who should both be reasonably knowledgeable about the property. 

Just a few months ago in April, the average expected price of a home in the Queen City was a little under $240,000 according to FAUâ€s study. However, the average house was selling for a little over $370,000– around a 55% difference. A home in the Plaza Midwood area of the city was listed for $585,000 but sold for $740,000. 

By comparison to one year before, in April of 2021, the selling price was only 21.5% higher than the average expected price. 

In a recent interview with Axios, FAU Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in the Finance Department, Ken Johnson, said the home prices in Charlotte have been above the expected pricing trend since March 2018. Johnson has an area of expertise in rental housing, real estate markets, homeownership, and real estate economics. 

“The run-up in prices in the last couple of years is the highest in our data stream which goes back to 1996,” Johnson told Axios. 

This is great news for sellers in Charlotte but homebuyers are still trying to navigate the record-high prices, competitive bidding wars and now mortgage rates are up over 5%. 

There are a couple of factors within the housing market currently that are supporting Charlotteâ€s home prices. There has been an influx in population along with an inventory shortage.

According to Johnson, these “help support Charlotteâ€s home prices, making a catastrophic housing price crash unlikely.” This coupled with those moving from bigger cities and metro areas who donâ€t have to adjust their spending habits for a better lifestyle in Charlotte.

A recent Zillow survey shows prices will continue to grow while demand for homes will stay strong. 60% of experts say the housing market is heating up but not in a bubble. Many of those experts from the survey say itâ€s their belief that there will be a short recession by 2024 as the Federal Reserve tries to rein in inflation. 

Itâ€s clear to see that buyers in the Charlotte metro area are paying a lot for their homes with no indication of slowing down. To see the full data report from FAU, click here

The post New Study: Charlotte Homebuyers Overpaying by more than $100k appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

“Itâ€s been incredibly frustrating,” said Erin Damato, in an interview with Bloomberg. “House prices have gone up about $100,000 since weâ€ve been looking.”

Damato and her husband have been seriously hunting for a home in New Jersey since last fall to house their growing family. They are finding that even $1 million isnâ€t enough to meet their needs.

In January, the Damato family big $828,000 for a house that was listed at $750,000 in West Orange which is about 20 miles west of New York City. After placing that big, they learned from their real estate agent that of the more than 20 offers received, theirs wasnâ€t even in the top five.

Itâ€s par for the course to lose out in a bidding war in the red-hot U.S. housing market. Millennials who are starting families, remote workers with location flexibilities and the concerns over rising mortgage rates are only adding fuel to the fire. About 70% of offers were in bidding wards up about 60% from the year before according to Redfin. It made January the most competitive month ever.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.92% in mid February. This is up from a record low 2.65% in early 2021. A $500,000 loan with a 30-year mortgage has a monthly payment of about $2,364. Last yearâ€s low saw those payments at $2,014. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates several times this year to respond to soaring inflation though it doesnâ€t seem to be deterring buyers.

“Rising mortgage rates are intensifying an already-severe shortage of homes for sale because buyers are feeling more urgency to buy while homeowners are feeling less urgency to sell — an imbalance thatâ€s fueling an increase in competition,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

A combination of luck and resourcefulness are allowing some buyers to snatch up a house that was subject to bidding wars. In an interview with Bloomberg, Gianna Gordon said she big $235,000 for a home listed at $215,000 in Atlanta. According to Gordon, the offer was initially rejected in favor of an offer from an investor however when the offer fell through, Gordon was asked if she was still interested.

“You have to do a little bit extra to get the attention of the owner,” she said. Gordon offered to pay $800 in relocation expenses for the seller. She credits that creativity for sealing the deal. According to Redfin, many successful bidders are seeing similar results. Several homebuyers are shortening or waiving the inspection contingency and offering to increase their down payment if the appraisal comes in low.

Spokane, Washington; Sacramento, California; and Seattle have the highest bidding war rates of the 40 metro areas surveyed by Redfin. 83.3% of offers in Spokane saw a bidding war in January while Sacramento and Seattle saw 80.4% and 79.7% respectively.

Raleigh, North Carolina ranked ninth with 75% of offers receiving competition. Charlotte came in at number 17 with 72.5% of competing bids up from 66.7% in January 2021.

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“I love Charlotte. I love the weather. I love the people,” Christina Baldauf told Fox 46 Charlotte. The news station found others who love their fellow Charlotteans and asked what they loved about the city. “My favorite thing about Charlotte is the restaurants and to hang out with my friends,” said Joshua Caldwell.

There wonâ€t be a shortage of new friends to meet and hang out with in the Queen City. According to the U.S. Census data, between 2015 and 2019, Charlotte grew by a little under 20,000 people, making the city one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Charlotte came in at number nine on the top 10 list. This was a small decrease from the recorded 21,143 people who moved to Charlotte in the previous studyâ€s timeframe. Charlotte ranked seventh on that list.

With so much growth, the city has changed quite a bit too. “Oh, itâ€s completely different. When I moved here, Charlotte was like a big town and so we would go to happy hour after work and we had our choices, maybe a couple blocks that way and a couple of blocks this way, but itâ€s not like the metropolis we have now. Very few choices, but it was a lot of fun. You knew everybody,” said Baldauf.

David Furman, who was born and raised in Myers Park, has also watched the growth thatâ€s come to charlotte. “Itâ€s my home. Thatâ€s the main thing that has kept me here. My children do not live here. I wish they did. They live in bigger, cooler cities. I stay here because I wanna take part in making my city a place where my children would want to live,” said Furman.

Even with the slight decrease, Charlotte is still one of the fastest-growing metros in the country when factoring in other population sources. Over the last decade, Charlotte was the ninth-fastest-growing large metro by percentage with a population increase of 18.6%.

The study has gone on to say that the Charlotte metro area will likely continue drawing residents from both Carolinas, like Winston-Salem and Greensboro, as well as big cities like New York City. In fact, NYC is the primary source of residents moving in. The migration is likely due to an economic landscape that is ready for remote work.

The number one city on the list was Phoenix, Arizona. Raleigh also made the list coming in at number nine.

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Closing on a home these days is tough, but how tough is it?

The combination of lower interest rates, shrinking inventory and the continued increase in construction costs has squeezed the housing supply. This has resulted in homes being bought up faster and for much more money.

There has also been a pent-up demand for many buyers after spending more than a year inside due to the pandemic while many millennials have entered the market to explore first-time home ownership.

“Itâ€s truly a sellerâ€s market, but the market right now has never been higher,” said James McDuffie, community lending manager for U.S. Bankâ€s Mid-Atlantic region. “Iâ€ve been in the business for quite a number of years now. Iâ€ve seen ups and downs, but right now is definitely a plateau that the market has hit that I donâ€t think weâ€ve ever seen before.”

The biggest hurdle for most buyers in the market is price. Itâ€s hard to pay attention to any other factors when the price of homes in many areas have skyrocketed. The median home sale price in the Charlotte metro area hovered around $260,000 throughout 2019. Those prices rose steadily throughout 2020 and continued to rise into 2021. The median sales price has now surpassed $300,000. Most sellers are getting well above their asking price.

Another obstacle for potential homebuyers is the inventory. With fewer house on the market, there is bigger competition among those buyers to snatch whatâ€s out there. Throughout the pandemic, supply has dwindled steadily. In the Charlotte metro area, there were less than 3,000 homes available for sale in June, a decrease of 45% from just a year ago and an almost 70% decrease from June 2019. It is possible that inventory will bounce back however when considering the recent low of 2,141 available homes in March of this year.

With fewer houses available, the time spent on the market has also shrunk. In June, the average time it took a home to sell was just 12 days. That is three times as fast compared to June of last year.

A good way to measure an areaâ€s housing market is to consider an areaâ€s monthâ€s supply of inventory. Itâ€s to measure how fast available homes would sell on the market at the current pace. In the Charlotte area, the number of available homes dipped below one monthâ€s supply for the first time in November of last year. In June, the supply was just 18 days.

A market is considered balanced when there is around six months†worth of supply.

The post Charlotte Seeing a Red-Hot Market appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

“We submitted an offer and within a day they had come to another determination,” Broyles said, “we got outbid.”

They arenâ€t alone. The housing market in Charlotte is hot right now. Many people are finding themselves in bidding wars to lock down the properties they like then outbid with an amount well over selling price by those cash bidders or buyers willing to buy site unseen.

Saying itâ€s a sellerâ€s market is an understatement. Realtors say Charlotteâ€s housing market is unlike anything theyâ€ve ever seen. Prices are skyrocketing, inventory is low, and demand is only growing.

According to Mecklenburg County officials, 99.2% of sellers are getting their asking price or more within 23 days of being on the market.

“Weâ€ve seen large increases in our housing market throughout the year,” Michael Simmons, the countyâ€s economist said.

Over the next 30 years, some 600,000 people are expected to move here, according to a county estimate, with a majority of those moving towards the state-line. A growing number of those are 20- to 25-year-olds now moving from apartments to homes, according to Simmons.

Charlotte is in the top five for attracting millennials and is also number one in the country for attracting baby boomers. North Carolina as a whole, is attractive to home buyers too as it ranks in the top five of states where people are moving.

For homebuyers this means a critically low level of inventory of affordable homes for sale. Charlotte home prices has gone up 12% in the last year, according to Zillow. First-time home buyers and single buyers are finding themselves priced out of the market with the median list price of a single-family home in Charlotte at $355,000. This is according to Realtor.com.

According to the Home Buying Institute, the Charlotte real estate market will remain extremely competitive throughout the rest of the year with strong demand and limited supply continuing to boost home prices higher.

Charlotte consists of 162 neighborhoods with 2,790 homes for sale according to Realtor.com. Of those neighborhoods, Myers Park is the most expensive. The median listing price there is $1.1 million. McAlpine is the most affordable neighborhood for buying a home with a median list price of $220,000.

The post  Charlotte Real Estate Market Among Hottest in Nation appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

According to a recent Zonda survey, around a quarter of baby boomers plan to retire near their grandchildren, earning them the moniker “baby chasers.” The third annual Zonda Baby Chaser Index examines migration trends, which are vital to understand since they feed housing demand.

For both demographic cohorts, the Zonda Baby Chaser Index considers both long-term migratory patterns and present tendencies. While the index’s most recent migration data reflects tendencies prior to COVID-19, itâ€s thought that the virus†impact could amplify those patterns.

“Iâ€m not surprised to see Charlotte, Austin, and Phoenix top the list as all three are great relocation markets for millennials,” says Tim Sullivan, Zonda’s senior managing principal of advisory, who travels across the country working on new-home projects. “These markets also allow many baby boomers to live a classic retirement consisting of downsizing their home, saving some money, being near their family, and, in some cases, having a better quality of life.”

The Southeast and Southwest, like in previous years, remain the most popular destinations for baby chasers. Many of the top areas have characteristics such as diversified economies, a strong or increasing tech presence, pleasant weather, and reasonably priced new housing. Charlotte, this year’s top metro, meets all of those boxes.

Charlotte is home to a variety of companies, including Bank of America, Truist, Belk, Lowe’s, and Honeywell, to name a few. Furthermore, Charlotte is a magnet for new expansion because of an advantageous tax environment, expanding entertainment offerings, and its geographic proximity to both the mountains and the beaches.

The Queen City is a hot spot for baby chasers because of all the aforementioned reasons plus the diversity of the housing stock” says Shaun McCutcheon, Zondaâ€s vice president of advisory in the Southeast. He notes that Charlotte has a variety of low- and high-end conventional homes, as well as low-end and high-end active adult communities, allowing folks migrating from the Midwest and California to be satisfied with their choices. “There are housing options that range from starter homes in the $200,000s to lakefront properties that can be found for around $1 million, the latter of which would be five times that price in other markets.”

It’s possible the covid-19 pandemic only exaggerated these moving trends. Zondaâ€s top baby chaser markets have gained steam as the work-from-anywhere trend gave people more flexibility in where they live. The main concern going forward will be how builders will keep up with demand given how frequently it shifts and the concerns over rising lumber prices.

The post Charlotte #1 Destination for Millennials and Their Baby Boomer Parents appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.

The U.S. housing market has seen a significant rise through the pandemic and Charlotte is certainly not an exception, according to Mecklenburg County officials, who briefed county commissioners about the local real estate market recently during their annual retreat.

“Weâ€ve seen large increases in our housing market throughout the year,” said Michael Simmons, the countyâ€s economist.

According to county data, itâ€s a sellerâ€s market where 99.2% of those sellers are getting their asking price or more within 23 days of being on the market.

Millennials are a driving force behind the sellerâ€s market. These first time homebuyers are interested in taking advantage of record-low mortgage rates. According to Simmons, there is a growing number of 20 to 25-year-olds moving from apartments to homes.

A recent report released by NerdWallet found an estimated 26 million hope to become first-time home buyers within the next five years. The survey also found that 44% of Americans have worked remotely since last March and that’s giving them the confidence to buy in a different location.

Over the next few decades, the Mecklenburg county estimates around 600,000 people will to move to the area. A majority of those are expected to move towards the state-line.

The pandemic temporarily sank the housing market in the state but Realtor.comâ€s Housing Market Recovery Index indicates that the Charlotte metro area has not only managed to recover but is one of the best places to buy a home as well as invest in real estate in 2021.

The Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2021: US and Canada report, ranked Charlotte number five in the top 10 of best places to invest in real estate in 2021. The city is being labeled as a “New Boomtown” as more people continue to migrate to the Queen City during the pandemic.

Charlotte has also been labeled as an “18-hour city.” Urban Land Institute defines “18 hour” cities as a small or medium sized city with above average urban population growth, a low cost of living and a low cost of doing business. The area is known for its diverse lifestyle, a mix of a big city and suburban feel with an influx of workers from other cities.

The 2021 Charlotte housing market is forecast to rise due to strong real estate appreciation, a growing job market and a steady increase in population. Currently the median home listing price is almost $325,000 with a median sold home price of $295,000.

The post Charlotte Housing Market Continues To Thrive appeared first on Charlotte Real Estate.