The last several months have been filled with uncertainty, ups, and downs. From a real estate perspective, Covid-19 brought a very short term shut down of the home buying and selling process because of the stay at home order and fear of getting sick. However, those things have both proven to be temporary. Home sales in Mecklenburg County dropped sharply in April and May due to a lack of contract activity in March and April. But a regaining of confidence in May and June have brought higher levels of demand to make up for the earlier shortfalls in comparison to the previous year. That’s a bit of a mouthful! Let me explain.

In April and May of this year there were only 1103 and 989 sales in Mecklenburg County respectively. That is compared to 1366 and 1597 in the same months last year. Cumulatively, from January through June last year there were a total of 7452 sales versus 6896 in the same period this year. However, the current number of pending home sales is at its highest monthly level since 2016, which means that next month we should see record closings. Cumulative pending home sales from January to June last year totaled 14,730 versus 14,901 this year. So in summary, this year has delivered greater fluctuations in the market, yet it appears that there has already been a rebound which will result in total overall numbers being similar, if not better, than last year.

Covid-19 has made our homes even more important than before. Being at home, working from home, schooling from home has amplified this importance. In spending more time at home, people are noticing all the inadequacies of their current homes. “We need a bigger office, we need a bonus room for the kids, we need a swimming pool!” These are some of things I’m hearing. With these changes, many people are choosing to renovate or move. And with that, demand for real estate is strong!

This week we’ll send out our monthly E-newsletter with the real estate stats comparing Mecklenburg County single family home sales for June with the prior month and to the same month last year. Here’s a sneak peak:

• Home sales are up 61% from last month and 3% from last year.
• Average sales price is up 6% from last month, but down 1% from last year.
• Median home price is up 3% from last month and 3% from last year.
• Average price per square foot is up 2% from last month and 5% from last year.
• Average time on market is up 6% from last month, but down 8% from last year.
• Pending sales are up 5% from last month and 21% from last year.
• Supply is down 6% from last month and 18% from last year.
• Mortgage rates at 3.1% are about the same as last month, but down from 3.8% last year.
• Average house payment is up 5% from last month, but down 9% from last year.