Its hard to believe that next week is Thanksgiving 2013.  The real estate market has suffered some significant challenges over the past five years.  This Thanksgiving I’m very thankful to have made it through the worst and back up the hill to what I would consider to be a near full recovery.  2013 was a tremendous year for Charlotte real estate as prices have returned to the peak levels of 2007 in most neighborhoods.  Generally speaking, home prices in our area are up about 10% from last year and with low housing inventories it seems that prices will continue to climb albeit at a slower pace than the last 12 months.

This week we’ll send out our monthly E-Newsletter with the real estate stats for Mecklenburg County comparing October of this year to the prior month and again to the same month last year.  Here’s a sneak peak: 

– Home sales are down 1% from last month and up 2% from last year.

– Average sales price is up 1% from last month and up 11% from last year.

– Median sales price is up 1% from last month and up 13% from last year.

– Average time on market is up 8% from last month, but down 19% from last year.

– Pending home sales are down 8% from last month and down 10% from last year year.

– Housing supply is down 7% from last month and down 22% from last year.

– Mortgage rates are at 4.19% which is slightly down from last month but up from last year.

– The average house payment is down 2% from last month, but up 22% from last year.

– Average price per square foot is even from last month and up 11% from last year.

Throughout 2013 we saw drastic increases in many of the housing stats including sales, prices, pending sales, etc.  This is because the market was on a serious upswing from the prior year.  It is anticipated that 2014 will be a similar year to 2013 which means we aren’t likely to see major percentage increases year over year as we move into next year.  This is not a bad thing.  2013 has been a tremendous year and I’d gladly take a repeat into to 2014.  I’m very thankful for the return of a healthy market in our area and thankful (and excited) for what next year will bring.  Happy Thanksgiving!!