Charlotte Home Prices are now Falling

[monsoon]

Charlotte has finally joined the rest of the USA in seeing a decline in real estate prices.

[rockhilljames]

Are you surprised?

It was bound to catch up with us eventually.

Now, why is BofA still going after Countrywide? You'd think Wachovia's troubles and the recent political scandals involving Countrywide would scare them off.

[krazeeboi]

Well, it couldn't last forever, that's for sure.

[cltheel.sdl]

Where is the article?

[Andyc545]

Where is the article?

[monsoon]

Where is the article?

[nowensone]

It was on several TV news casts last night as well, so the stats are valid, though still minor and better than all other markets. We just don't have the overvaluation that is present everywhere else, so this will never be a real issue in the CLT metro. What would probably be more significant to these numbers are if Wach executives/upper mgmt and those from supporting companies move away due to it's collapse or purchase by an American competitor.

[monsoon]

^It will be an issue in Charlotte where there has been an unreasonable appreciation in prices caused by investment buying. (flipping)

[ontap]

While not good news, let's keep it in perspective. A .1% price drop of a $500,000 home is $500. I paid that for my mocha grande at Starbucks this morning.

[Charlotte_native]

The real test will be if, or when, the influx of newcomers slows. If it doesn't that will mitigate sharp declines as people that move here must live somewhere regardless of whether they rent or buy. This is considered one of the major reasons we've stayed strong throughout this mess. The other is our overall appreciation for the past few years (yes, there are pockets of exception, just talking the metro area as a whole) was never very high -- just steady.

One can't be surprised by this news though -- and most expect this to be consistent for the rest of year.