What I Know About Foreclosure

February’s CMLS (Carolina MLS) sales data were released on Carolinahome.com recently, so I decided to dig in.  You may remember that my last post was in regard to the January data; this will simply be a continuation of that.  So, without further adieu…

In the month of February, CMLS reported 2179 sales at an average price of $216,292.  That sales price puts our market as commanding just under 95% of list price for the month of February 2008. 

This all appears to be pretty good, as far as these figures go.  Our market is still reasonably priced and offers a great value in comparison to other urban markets out there where average sales price is often 50%+ more than here in Charlotte.  This being the case, we can probably continue to expect an influx of new residents from elsewhere, so long as our folks in our major tributaries (Florida, New York, New Jersey, etc) find it possible to sell their current homes in whatever market they’re coming from.

The picture isn’t all rosy, however.  These new figures bear out the SAME trend that I mentioned in January (and that so many Realtors around here seem to want to ignore).  Namely, our sales are DOWN from last year when we had 2878 sales at an average price of $219,515 representing almost 97% of average list price.  Not only that, but at the time we had roughly 20% lower inventory (total active listings).  So let me recap in one aweful sentence that will make every broker in the Charlotte area cringe:  This year, sales are down almost 25% on 20% greater inventory for an average sales price that is 3 thousand dollars under last year’s price.  One thing IS up though:  list price.  So, apparently we at least THINK our houses should be worth more this year, though they are in fact worth less.

All in all, none of this is peculiar or particularly new for February.  I suspect that our market will continue this ever so slight downturn (you could almost just call it “flat”) for the next few months as we try to get our inventories back in line (around the 22k active listings mark).  Once we get to that point, I would expect to see a return to “business as usual.”  Thankfully, Charlotte never really exploded, so I don’t suspect we’re in for much of an implosion either.  Nonetheless, real estate isn’t ALL local, right?  I mean, new bodies have to come from SOMEWHERE and chances are, that somewhere is currently a hard place to sell a home.  Just my 2 cents.