Lake Norman Real Estate’s 4th Quarter 2008 Sales Analysis

 We are truly being bombarded in the local and national news with stories about the crisis in the US housing market.  With so much information gathered by using a variety of sources of information, it can be difficult to know exactly how this news pertains to our local Lake Norman housing market.

Using the data from the Charlotte Regional Multiple Listing Service for the Lake Norman area (13 1-5) as I do every quarter, I have provided you with an overall summary of the 4th quarter of 2008 as well as a detailed breakdown by price range:

Lake Norman 4th Quarter 2008 Housing Sales Overview

This chart gives a simple overview of the 4th quarter of 2008 versus 2007:

• The number of active listings increased 16%  while our number of sales of single family homes dropped by 35%.  This resulted in an increase in the number of months of inventory of active lisitngs from 18.8 to 25.1.  (A balanced market is 6-8 months of supply).
• The average price of homes sold in the 4th quarter dropped 15%  while the average days these homes were on the market before selling went up 39%.
• The number of contingent, conditional and pending sales, which are a barometer of our future month’s closings, dropped by nearly 50% from last year. 

Inventory Up + Sales Down = worsening Lake Norman real estate market

 

 Lake Norman 4th Quarter Sales Analysis by Price Range  

Every quarter I do a real estate sales analysis by price range including all of the Lake Norman area.  This provides you with the ability to look as trends within individual price ranges in which you are looking to buy or sell a home in the Lake Norman area. 

Findings:

• Sales of homes up to $200,000 remain strong
• Only 33 homes sold over $600,000 yet there are 615 homes for sale priced above $600,000.  At this rate it would take us almost 5 years to sell out of homes in our higher price ranges.

As a buyer, this chart will show you where the market is the weakest and may give you reason to make a lower offer.  As a seller, you can look at the changes by price range and if you are right on the cusp of, for example, a $600,000 listing price, it would clearly be very important to price your home in the $500,000’s where you may tap twice as many prospective buyers than if you priced it in the $600,000’s. 

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