Anyone who has ever read my writing knows  I'm no NAR cheerleader- on the other hand I can differentiate between a New Home Industry recession-depressions, contraction- and the local real estate market itself. They are related, but not the same.  So 1 in 4 homes are not selling at 2006 rates- which 25% are you thinking that is?  Would those be the best values or the worst? 

No its not rose colored glasses- it is thankfulness that it is not as bad as 95% of the rest of the nation, and that 3 out of 4 homes will sell. So sellers need to get their prices in line-and homes in great condition, and they will have a good shot of moving on.

Charlotte has a foreclosure issue- as does every market in the US.  I've written about Beazer and Realty place already- there is no excuse for them or other builders who specialize in overpricing subdivisions and leaving people upside down.

Charlotte home sales have slowed- cited in the story above 13% for the year, 24% for the last 4 months of 2007.

But home prices rose for the year, and rose 11 months our of 12, and December number fell by a fraction of a %- that is and remains the story.

Wrong again- you read nothing I write, that is clear

I only use SOLD Cost per Square foot data- not mls Median crap, ( See paragraphs, 2, 3 and multiple others) which I've written about extensivley, and wouldn't touch their Days on market data with a ten foot pole.  I use the same data Radar Logic from New York does, the only accurate method that adjusts for home sizes. More accurate than Standard and Poor's Case-Shiller as well.(See paragraph 4)

Your comment  about sellers priced at comps- which comps I'd ask? The prices they remember from a few years ago? Or the house with a 100K pool in the back? It is a stron Buyers Market- I've said that in many places-but its been a buyers market here for years because of the abundance of new construction.

There is a fallacy in the numbers, but you don't really have it-- its that averages, any average or median, can hide great disparity and deviations. While my average Cost per SF data records a real 4.35% increase in Cost per SF sold for all homes sold in 2007 over the record setting year of 2006-- nevertheless it is an average,and there  are parts of this larger Charlotte area that saw real price declines, and others that went up faster than 4.35%    

There are also great deviations from price range to price range with some showing greater or less appreciation or depreciation as well.  

However the national housing market- bubble markets- began falling in price in the 4th quarter of 2005- it accelerated in '06 and '07, and reached double digit drops in a handful of cities in 4th quarter 2007. Compared with this, Charlotte has not experienced One Quarter of price decreases based on the Average Cost per SF of Sold property, we only experience one month- December. 

And it is a story- a big story just ask Forbes and ABC news - that a market can have 13-25% fewer sales- and prices remain stable, or increase at the same time (11 out of 12 months in 2007).

Last but not least- it is local economics and credit conditions that will propel the markets back. That is why Charlotte, Seattle and Portland led the country in price appreciation in 2007- but remain vulnerable to a credit crisis-the all have strong local economies that create good paying jobs, well above the anemic national average.  

I am fully aware of the CW- conventional wisdom ("late to the party") on this- I just don't buy it because the facts on the ground here ARE different.