I recently was reading an article on-line about the housing market. We have all heard about the short sales and foreclosures. As well as the limited success of the Obama Administration to help home owners out in regards to a mortgage modification. However; the question still looms; has home prices hit bottom yet? Are we going to see home prices drop more? These are questions that are purely speculative. For everyone that writes that the economy and housing market is going to get worse there is someone who is saying it is going to be better and is stabilizing. So who do we believe?
Well I decided to pull the statistics off a variety of different sources and and see how the trends were matching up. This is by no indication an definitve report but one based on home price trends for the past year and statistics.
I first looked at home sale prices. I thought of list price but those numbers are subjective with people putting in low numbers to attract offers on short sale homes. As compared to February 2009 to February 2010 the average sale price in the Charlotte area was up 4.6% on average (The price people paid for a house). Now with the prices taking a nose dive of almost 40% it still has not stabilized to a point yet where we are at a balance. We have a long way to go to get there.
Then I decided to look at homes under contract and see how they have compared to a year ago. A good indication if people are out looking at homes and buying right now. As compared to February 2009 homes that offers were placed on and accepted by the seller were up 14%.
Last, I looked at how many homes closed. Some will fall out do to appraisals, home inspections or financing to name a few. From the same periods homes that closed were up 3.6%.
The numbers show a trend in homes that are closing and the price people are paying for them has increased from last year. Does it mean we are out of the woods with falling home prices? Maybe we might be. Nothing is for certain. But one thing I do know is the statistics are showing the Charlotte area market is slowly creeping back up.
I believe we have seen the worse in the home price drop. I do believe the statistics show we are starting to see a stabilization in home prices. Will we see prices as high as they were a few years ago? Probably not but the market is beginning to show signs of stabilization.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Agent
www.davedicecco.com
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