Housing Inventory In Charlotte, NC. Down To Balanced Market Levels

Every day I get asked how is the housing market in Charlotte, NC. My standard answer is it is great. Because whether you are a buyer or a seller the market is doing extremely well right now. For sellers, one factor that the market is improving is the overall days on the market it takes for a house to sell. Most economists and experts agree a balanced market (one that does not favor either the seller or the buyer) is one where the inventory levels are at a 6 month supply. So, how is the market in Charlotte, NC. Inventory levels doing right now? Well the trend is heading back toward a balanced market like we had in 2007. In 2010 we had an average of 12.5 months’ worth of inventory on the market. This means that based on the amount of homes that sold there was enough homes out there to supply every buyer in Charlotte for a little over a year. In 2011 we saw that number drop slightly to 10.6 months’ worth of inventory. It was not great but a step in the right direction. That decrease was a decrease of 14.7%. It may not seem like a lot but it was significant in leading us toward the housing recovery we are going into right now. In 2012 we saw the largest drop in available inventory in many years down to 6.1 months’ worth of inventory. That was a substantial drop in available housing of 42.5%. It has left us at a balanced market right now. It has also led to many multiple offers on homes and buyers being not able to negotiate as well as they had in the past. This bodes well for sellers looking to sell their homes since the average to sell their home has been cut in half from 2 years ago. It is almost down to the levels of the pre housing crash... Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United www.davedicecco.com