April 19, 2021

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – 

The spring selling season is off to a solid start in the mountains of North Carolina as indicated by Canopy MLS data, which showed closed sales during the month of March increased 33.8 percent year-over-year as 1,160 properties closed. In March 2020, which was just before the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns slowed spring sales, 867 properties closed. Sales were equally strong when compared to the previous month, rising 32.9 percent compared to February 2021, which should set the stage for a busy and competitive selling season. These are completed transactions that include single-family homes, condos and townhomes across the 13-county Asheville region.

Buyer demand, as displayed by pending sales or contracts, continued largely unabated in the face of rising home prices and mortgage rates. Contract activity in March 2021 rose 73.2 percent year-over-year as buyers drove 1,368 properties under contract during the month. Compared to February 2021, pending sales rose 19.9 percent. New listing activity continues to be weak, rising 1.5 percent higher than last year as sellers listed 1,309 homes for sale. However, momentum may be building, as new listing activity compared to February 2021 increased significantly by 31.4 percent, which could help buyers with more choices. Still, inventory declined 63.9 percent year-over-year, leaving 1,522 homes for sale at report time or 1.3 months of supply in the 13 counties where Canopy MLS trends data in the region.   

Prices continued to respond to market dynamics of low supply, with both the median sales price ($318,500) and the average sales price ($394,482) rising 20.2 percent and 26.5 percent year-over-year, respectively, and the average list price increasing 25.6 percent year-over-year to $467,032. The original list price to sales price ratio showed sellers getting 97.1 percent of asking price during the month of March, while days on market averaged 59 days versus 87 days this time last year, which indicates the pace of sales is faster than a year ago.  

Brian Cagle, a Canopy MLS Board of Directors member and Vice President/Managing Broker of Beverly-Hanks & Associates, said, “Though home sales are off to a strong start this spring, housing affordability is weakening and increased inventory is the best way to address rising home prices. Low mortgage rates have also continued to drive interest in the second-home market as well. While this is good for sales and growth, we also have to factor in the impact on first-time buyers and workforce buyers who live and work here and who are ultimately getting priced out of homeownership.”

The Asheville region includes Burke, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey counties.

For more residential-housing market statistics, visit www.CarolinaHome.com and click on “Market Data.”  For an interview with an Asheville-area Realtor®/broker, please contact Kim Walker.

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 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: 4/19/2021