I heard this morning on NPR that according to the NAR house prices in most major USA cities are on the rise. What does that mean? Does it mean that your house is worth more now? How would anyone know unless you try to sell it? Maybe it means that the average price of the homes sold has increased. That seems to be more measurable.
The only way to know if home prices are going up would be to compare similar houses sold and look at the price per square foot. Appraisers do this on an individual basis. If they did report the results in aggregate form, it would still not be very accurate or scientific.
Charlotte has been one of the cities hardest hit in this mess. Average sale prices here are still down 9%. That is probably due to our heavy dependence on the financial industry. The job losses, foreclosures and price drops here have appeared on every list of national “worsts”. What has been our strength in the past has become our weakness in the present. It should become our strength again in the future. This is a resilient city. I hope that our house prices go up and our vacancies go down.
The things I have been reading lately lead me to believe the bottom-fishers are starting to get into the market and the banks are holding onto troubled assets. This could be a really good sign that things are beginning to turn.
David Segrest is a REALTOR® in Charlotte NC. His website is http://www.segrestrealty.com His email is david@segrestrealty.com He is also a contributor on Argentina to: http://realestatebloginternational.com/
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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