Wow…Charlotte real estate has experienced quite a year of growth in 2017 and will finish strong.  Followers of this blog know that seasonality means we should typically see a slowdown in sales and reduced prices this time of year.  The trend of fewer sales continues as sales in November were down 6% from the prior month.  However, due to the limited supply of housing we’ve actually seen prices jump 4% from the prior month and 9% from last year.  Pending home sales are down 10% from last month and 17% from last year which means that when I write this blog next month, we should see a substantially lower number of home sales for December.  However, looking at the average and median closing prices for December as we are just through the halfway mark, it appears that December’s average price will be even higher than November.  There’s no doubt this is due to low inventory.

With inventory levels so low, it is almost inevitable that we’ll see prices continue to push upward into the first half of 2018 until more inventory hits the market.  What does this mean for you?  Opportunities for sellers continue to be exceptional so if you’ve thought about selling, you might just find that your time has come.

We’ll be sending out our last monthly E-Newsletter of the year this week and the monthly stats for November will be published.  When comparing the November 2017 Mecklenburg County Single Family home stats with the prior month and the same month last year, here’s a quick summary:

• Home sales are down 6% from last year but up 2% from last year.
• Average sales price is up 5% from last month and 9% from last year.
• Median sales price is up 3% fro last month and 7% from last year.
• Average price per square foot is up 4% from last month and 11% from last year.
• Average time on market is up 10% from last month but down 4% from last year.
• Pending sales are down 9% from last month and down 17% from last year.
• Supply is down 12% from last month and 24% from last year.
• Mortgage rates at 3.92% are even with last month but up from 3.47% last year.
• Average new house payment is up 5% from last month and 15% from last year.