This past week our listings saw an average of 1.75 showings each.   The recent traffic patterns are slower than I had  wished for and can only hope that it is due in part to the poor weather we’ve been having in the area.   The forecast for the coming week shows a significant improvement and along with the coming sun and warm air I’m expecting buyers.

Tomorrow we will publish our monthly E-Newsletter to include the Charlotte real estate market stats for January.   Here is a sneak peak when comparing to the same period last year:

Homes sales remain relatively unchanged.

The average sales price is up almost 20% to $231,537 from $193,201.

Average time on market is down about 3%.

Pending home sales are up 27%.

Housing inventory is up 20%.

Mortgage rates are about even with last year.

There are some very mixed signals in this data.   Average price is way up over last year, time on market is down slightly, and pending home sales are still up significantly which indicates that the coming months will be improving.   However, it is a bit disappointing to see that the number of home sales in January of this year is about the same as last year.   Additionally, home inventory is still rising which could be due to the fact that January is the beginning of “listing season” and more homes are coming on the market than selling.

The increase in pending home sales gives me the most amount of confidence that spring home sales will continue showing improvement over last year.   The drop in home sales for January is likely due to the surge that took place at the end of 2010 as the tax credit was set to expire.   Seasonally, January and February are the slowest months of the year and this January probably saw just that.   But rest assured, I’ll be monitoring things closely as we enter the spring.   If the market recovery is continuing to take place, we should see a steady increase in the numbers over the next 2-3 months.