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What a difference a year makes!

This past week our listings saw an average of 1.875 showings each.   The showing traffic patterns remain consistent  from recent weeks and in comparison to this same time last year, surprisingly showings are slower this year.   However, one thing is clear.   This year its about quality not quantity.

It is amazing what a difference a year can make.   Looking back over the past year of this blog, we saw a radical transformation not only in the Charlotte real estate market, but in the overall economy.   About this time last year we were heading into the worst of the news that the media bombarded us with as the economy took a nose dive.   Congress was voting on whether or not to provide a $700 billion bailout to failing banks and the stock markets began heading into a tailspin.

What followed was at least six months of general fear over what would happen next and how long it would last.   As a Realtor, I believe that the bottom of our real estate market happened around April of this year.   Buyer confidence along with home sales have slowly increased from that point to now.

Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, made the statement that the “Recession is Over“.   This week the Dow Jones Industrial Average approaches 10,000 and a record high for 2009.   Although it is still off its highs from October 2007, the market has recouped a significant amount of its losses this year.  

All of this economic data has surely had great impact on buyer confidence with regard to real estate purchases.   It is definitely still a buyer’s market out there because the housing inventory has really piled up.   But if homes continue to sell faster than new listings come on the market, that inventory will decline.   One year has made quite a difference.   I’m hopeful that the year to come will be even better.

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