Low inventory keeps pushing Charlotte home prices up

Home prices in the Charlotte area continued to climb in October thanks to persistently low supplies of properties for sale.

The average sales price of a home in the Charlotte metro last month was $256,736, up 7.6 percent from the average price of $238,518 in October 2015, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

The number of homes sold last month rose 3.4 percent from a year ago to 3,418, the association said.

As is the case elsewhere across the U.S., Charlotte’s home prices have more than recovered their value following the housing crisis. According to the S&P Case-Shiller data, home price growth in the Charlotte area (5.8 percent) outpaces the rest of the nation (5.3 percent.)

Inventory last month fell 23.1 percent compared with October 2015. The area last month had a 2.8-month supply of inventory, compared with a four-month supply last year.

“The region continues to struggle with persistently low housing supply, which is having a direct effect on prices. Unfortunately, until we’re able to see a substantial rise in inventory levels, buyers may be challenged with limited options as we close out the year and move into 2017,” CarolinaMLS President Maren Brisson-Kuester said in a statement.

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Low inventory keeps pushing Charlotte home prices up."