Charlotte home prices rise for 1st time in two years

By Stella M. Hopkins
shopkins@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009

Charlotte-area home prices in November inched up for the first time in two years and home sales jumped again.


The average sales price last month of $195,244 marks a gain of slightly more than 1 percent from November 2008, according to results released this morning by the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.


That was the first yearly price gain since November 2007 for transactions through the association's Carolina Multiple Listing Services. The past year has seen several months of double-digit price declines.


For the year, the average price is a little ahead of 2004 levels, meaning that people who have been in their homes for several years are probably still sitting on gains.


MLS sales in November rose a hefty 31 percent compared with a year ago as people rushed to take advantage of the first time homebuyers tax credit that had been set to expire last month. Congress, under heavy pressure from the housing industry, extended and expanded the credit. The November gain is even bigger than October's year-to-year jump of almost 20 percent, the first increase in more than two years.


MLS deals account for nearly all transactions in the Charlotte area.


The big gains come on comparison to an extremely weak market last fall, when the nation's financial system cratered. In Charlotte, that brought the loss of Wachovia's headquarters and mounting worries about job losses. Home sales plummeted in October 2008 and continued to sink through the winter.


Despite the jump, the 2,000 houses, townhouses and condos sold last month in the area represents a sales level below that of 2003.