October 11, 2019

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  Just as the summer heat continued into September, home sales across the Charlotte region heated up as well.  According to data from Canopy MLS, sales increased 8.3 percent in September 2019 over home sales from a year ago, with 4,162 transactions completed last month. Sales were down 12.1 percent compared to August 2019.  Year-to-date trends show 3.1 percent more homes have sold this year than during the same period last year (January-September 2018).

Pending sales counts, fueled by falling mortgage rates, were a massive 37.6 percent higher than last September, but they were down 10.5 percent compared to August 2019.  Pending sales or pending contracts gauge buyer demand and are generally seen as predictor of future sales.

2019 Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association/Canopy MLS President Brenda Hayden noted, “This most recent rate cut will continue to drive buyer demand that’s already strong in our region and should continue to drive sales over the next few months as well.”

Strong seller’s market conditions continue to prevail, as is evidenced by September’s average list price of $327,505. This was a 4.4 percent increase compared to the average list price a year ago. The original list price to sales price measure was 96.8 percent last month.  Prices continue to be impacted by limited supply, with both the average ($300,175) and median ($259,479) sales prices rising 6.8 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.

There were 4,886 new residential listings in September 2019, which represents a 12.1 percent increase year-over-year but a 13.1 percent decrease compared to listing activity in August 2019. Year-to-date, new listings are up 1.5 percent with 49,315 listings, which is 713 more listings than the same time last year. Inventory was down 19.0 percent to 9,272 homes for sale at report time, leaving the region with 2.2 months of supply.  In September 2018, the region had 11,446 homes for sale, or 2.8 months of supply.

“We were pleasantly surprised to see such a solid increase in new listings around the region,” said Hayden. “This is a strong signal of seller confidence that we’d like to see continue, and it will certainly help buyers with more choice in their home search.”

With selling conditions remaining largely unchanged compared to June, July and August 2019, homes continue to sell quickly. The average number of days a property was on the market from the time it was listed until it closed (list to close) was 90 days, while days on market, the metric that accrues for “Active” and “Under Contract-Show” statuses, increased by two days to 39.

The Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association is a trade association that provides its more than 11,600 Realtor® members with the resources and services they need to conduct ethical, professional, successful and profitable businesses. The Association is dedicated to being the region's primary resource for residential real estate information. The Association operates Canopy MLS (formerly CarolinaMLS), which has more than 17,400 Subscribers and is the private cooperative Realtors® use for access to tens of thousands of residential listings in a multicounty service area, including Charlotte, the Piedmont and Mountains areas of North Carolina and South Carolina, and beyond.