Real Estate Market Update for
Single Family Homes in Mecklenburg County North Carolina Area 5 including:
Charlotte Neighborhoods West of Providence Road and East of Park Road including, Cherry, Dilworth, Myers Park, Barclay Downs, Foxcroft, Beverly Woods, Cameron Wood, South Park, Quail Hollow, Olde Providence, Shadow Lake, Stone Creek Ranch, and Ballantyne.
Data gathered for March 1 2008 - March 31 2008
In March 407 new listings were added to the market in area 5, which is a 2.45% increase than the year prior.
Only 153 single family homes were placed under contract in March, a 48.48% decrease from the year prior when 297 were placed under contract.
In March, 149 pending homes sold, which was a 20.32% decrease from the year prior when 187 homes sold.
The average days on market increased from 60 days in March 2007 to 64 days in March 2008, a 6.67% increase.
Sellers received 97.73% of their sold price in March, an increase from March 2007 when sellers only received 96.24%
The average sold price decreased 3.15% to $459,327 from $474,203. The median sale price has remained steady as of this posting from February 2007 at 170,000 to $170,000 Feb. 2008 (March data not available at this time).
Analysis
The number one question I'm hearing from sellers and fellow agents is "why hasn't my listing sold?" One look at the data above should clue you into why. With an estimated 1,000+ homes for sale in area 5, the keys for sellers is patience, promotion, presentation, price, and the professional you hired. Many buyers have been eliminated from the market due to changes in the mortgage market (the elimination of 100%, stated income, and no documentation loans), layoffs in the financial sector, lack of liquidity in their other home, and/or media influence. The remaining have quite a bit to choose from and so to ensure that your home is one that will sell, the key is to focus on which homes have sold, your price in relation to the market surrounding, that it shows well, and that its being marketed well.
There are some bright spots in the midst of that data for sellers. First is that the numbers seem to follow the seasonal adjustment, which would lead me to believe that the spring and summer will be the stongest months. Also, sellers were receiving over 97% of asking price, which is far better than last year when there wasn't an ever changing mortgage market to contend with.
Jonathan Osman
Charlotte NC Homes, Charlotte Real Estate
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