Trulia: ‘Bargain’ homes not always that good a deal in Charlotte

Thanks to area homebuyers’ high demand in a lower inventory market, not all houses for sale and marketed as a bargain in the Charlotte are really that good a deal.

In Charlotte, houses for sale marketed as being a “bargain” or a similar term offer only a 4.2 percent discount, or about $10,782 off the median listing price, according to a report released Thursday from residential real estate data provider Trulia.

Trulia found that the median listing price of a Charlotte home was $254,900 for the period that spanned January 2013-December 2015.

Of the 100 largest U.S. metros Trulia examined, Charlotte ranked No. 14 overall in offering the lowest discount on “bargain” homes, just behind Sacramento, Calif. In general, Trulia said, homebuyers in faster-appreciating and expensive markets can expect smaller discounts on bargain properties.

This is because in tighter markets, meaning inventory is low, home sellers don’t need to lower their listing prices because demand outstrips supply, Trulia said.

Experts have noted that demand for homes in Charlotte is outpacing supply, fueling the steady increase in prices.

In “cooler markets,” Trulia said, the opposite is true.

Homes along a belt in the Midwest and upper South that were listed as discounted offered the biggest price reductions. Buyers in those markets can afford to be pickier, given the choices available to them, so sellers often make concessions on price.

In Dayton, Ohio, for instance, bargain listings came with a 19.6 percent markdown, or about $22,900 off the median listing price, Trulia found.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 7:42 AM with the headline "Trulia: ‘Bargain’ homes not always that good a deal in Charlotte."