Housing Market Update

Ever since the market dried up after COVID, we have been in a seller's market. Back then, if you weren't watching the agent put the sign in the yard all while putting your signature on the forms, you missed out. A seller's market just means that the inventory of homes for sale is less than a 3-month supply.

Since last summer, we have been on a steady increase in inventory (homes for sale). Currently, Canopy MLS reports 4.3 months of supply. The days of bidding wars are behind us, unless you have a truly special property or some unique feature that would drive people to be willing to increase their offer.

As of now, our market has an average time from 'list to close' of 100 days, where 52 of those days the home is still listed as 'Active'. This indicates that the average contract takes 48 days to close from acceptance of the offer.

Not every home is average. Also, each area in the MLS could have different averages. Canopy MLS includes nearly the entire western half of North Carolina. I listed a home in Charlotte at the beginning of April that closed in 34 days and was only Active for 4 days. I had prepared my client for the potential that it might take 45 to 60 days to get under contract and then 90 days to close. I was being conservative to keep expectations realistic. As it turned out, the perfect buyer was looking for this exact property, and it sold at full list price in just over a month.

I started in this business in 2015. At that time, there was over 10 months of inventory. more than 6 months is considered a buyer's market, and you may be able to buy a property for less than market value. Not because values are dropping, but because the seller may be tired of sitting and waiting for a buyer.

Hire an agent who understands these types of trends and can help you navigate the whole thing with as little drama as possible.