Since late 2011, real estate market data in Charlotte has been pointing to an improved market. The latest numbers for Mecklenburg County continue to improve. The market bottom can be defined in a number of ways depending on what data indicators you are looking at. If you are basing the bottom on the number of home sales, then we hit bottom sometime last year. When most homeowners think of the market bottom, they are thinking in terms of prices. The big question on every seller’s mind is when will prices start rising? Wait no further…your time has come.

It takes time to cycle through the ups and downs of the real estate market. Before prices could rise, home sales first needed to increase. Next we needed to see housing inventories decline. Once both of those changes have take place, only then will we see prices rise. Well, we are finally there and I would expect to see prices begin to rise in the not too distant future. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Charlotte area sees a consistent increase in the average sales price by the end of the summer.

Next week we’ll publish our montly E-Newsletter where we’ll report the market stats in Mecklenburg County for May. We’ll repoprt the changes in the market from last month and again from the same month last year. Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll see:

– Home sales were up 26% from last month and up 22% from last year.
– Average sales price was up 1% from last month and even with last year.
– Median sales price was up 6% from last month and up 5% from last year.
– Average time on market was down 3% from last month and down 6% from last year.
– Pending home sales were down 1% from last month, but up 32% from last year.
– Supply was down 2% from last month, and down 25% from last year.
– Mortgage rates were down to 3.80% from 3.91% last month and 4.64% last year.

Every data point in the summary above points to strength in the Charlotte real estate market. The recession is over and once again perhaps its time for housing to lead the economy back to strength. If you are a seller, inventories are low and now is a great time to sell. If you are a buyer, prices are still well below where they were at the start of the recession, but this won’t last. So, if you are thinking about buying in the next couple years….you might want to think about starting the search sooner rather than later.