February homes sales show momentum building just ahead of the spring selling season with closed sales rising 5.9 percent compared to February 2020 as 3,510 homes sold across the 16-county Charlotte region. Data from Canopy MLS also showed a 3.9 percent increase over sales in January 2021. These are completed transactions that include single-family homes, condos and townhomes.
Local figures continue to show an abundance of buyers in the market, which is reflected through pending sales. Pending sales rose 11.4 percent year-over-year with 4,819 homes going under contract during the month. Pending sales or contracts were up slightly (+0.5 percent) compared to contract activity in January 2021. High buyer demand continues to give sellers who are ready to list a distinct advantage in the market.
New listing activity during the month continues to be weak, with listings down 6.2 percent compared to listing activity in February 2020, with 4,481 properties brought to market. New listings, however, did rise 4.2 percent compared to January 2021’s new listing activity. As inventory continues to decline (down 64.2 percent year-over-year in February), buyers will find that properties are being sold nearly as fast as they are listed.
At report time, Canopy MLS showed 2,958 homes in inventory in the Charlotte region, which equates to 0.6 months of supply of homes for sale (roughly 18 days of supply) left in the market at the current sales pace. In February 2020 there were 8,267 homes for sale or 1.9 months of supply.
Canopy MLS President David Kennedy noted, “The region continues to experience extraordinarily high demand, fueled by years of steady population growth and low interest rates. Buyers in our market are quickly purchasing almost every new listing coming to market. Sales easily could have been much higher had there been more inventory and choice.”
With inventory at an all-time low, prices across the market will continue to increase. Both the median sales price ($293,495) and the average sales price ($340,881) increased last month, rising 11.7 percent and 11.8 percent year-over-year, respectively. The average list price of $380,319 rose 8.2 percent year-over-year, and the original list price to sales price ratio was 99.3 percent, showing sellers are getting nearly all of their asking prices in the market. Days on market averaged 31 days in February versus 50 days in February 2020, which shows homes are selling at a brisk pace.
Kennedy continued, “Inventory in our market has reached a critical level that could hold sales back this year. We are certainly at a point where we need to see more housing stock, particularly in price points that are attractive to a number of buyers, as we don’t want to see first-time buyers, single buyers and workforce housing buyers locked out of the market.”
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