April 1, 2021

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –According to data from Canopy MLS, home sales across the Catawba Valley region continued a second month of positive trends, rising 6.2 percent year-over-year as 258 homes were sold in February 2021. Sales compared to January 2021 were up 2.8 percent, showing momentum just ahead of the spring selling season. Transactions include single-family and condo/townhome sales in Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties in the region northwest of the Charlotte MSA.

Pending sales during the month, which showed 392 properties under contract, rose 28.5 percent compared to contracts written in February 2020. Contract activity compared to the previous month increased 10.4 percent, which means that sales should continue to be steady over the next few months as these contracts close. New listing activity rose a modest 3.7 percent year-over-year as sellers brought 363 homes into active or on-market status. Compared to January 2021, new listing activity is up 20.6 percent. However, with inventory across the four-county region falling 59.8 percent year-over-year with only 341 homes for sale or one month of supply, buyers will still be challenged with price increases and buyer competition this spring.

Cory Klassett, president of Catawba Valley Association of Realtors® and a Realtor®/broker with RE/MAX Legendary, said, “Our local housing market seems to be heating up rather early this year with plenty of buyers already searching for properties across the Hickory-Lenoir region. However, with just 30 days of supply left, there will definitely be difficulties for buyers, especially for first-time buyers and workforce housing buyers, many of whom already face hurdles with affordability.”

Properties were not on the market long in February, as days on market until sale averaged 29 days versus 59 days a year ago, which means buyers are seeing homes selling nearly as quickly as they are listed. Low supply across the four-county region creates a highly favorable market for sellers, as indicated by the original list price to sales price ratio registering 97.5 percent in February, showing sellers are getting most of their asking prices. Prices continue to rise, with both the median sales price ($200,000) and the average sales price ($253,638) rising 12.4 percent and 11.3 percent year-over-year, respectively. February’s average list price rose by 21.1 percent year-over-year to $281,512.

Klassett notes, “The sale of homes and properties contributes heavily to our local and state economy. However, as supply in our market continues to be depleted, the limited inventory going forward could be a major factor impacting home sales later on this year.”

Canopy MLS, a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of Canopy Realtor® Association, announced the consolidation of the MLS of Catawba Valley (MLSCV), which was effective on August 31, 2020. For more information about Canopy MLS or for residential-housing market statistics, visit www.CarolinaHome.com and click on “Market Data.”

Canopy MLS is a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of Canopy Realtor® Association and is the private broker cooperative used by Realtors® to bring buyers and sellers together with access to thousands of residential listings in a multicounty service area, including Charlotte, the mountains area of North Carolina, South Carolina, and beyond.  Canopy MLS, which has nearly 20,600 Subscribers, provides the most trustworthy, timely, accurate and complete property data along with proprietary tools for showings, market stats, predictive analytics, and more, used by its members to support consumers in their residential real estate transactions, whether selling, buying, investing or renting.

Original Publish Date: 4/1/2021