Charlotte’s housing market will be the hottest in the country this year, a new study predicts, but it’s not all bad news for prospective homeowners.
The city topped Zillow’s “annual predictions for the hottest housing markets of the year” for 2023. Still, the real estate website says, “buyers who can overcome acute affordability challenges will find a friendlier market than in recent, record-setting years.”
“This year’s hottest markets will feel much chillier than they did a year ago,” Anushna Prakash, economic data analyst at Zillow, said in a statement on the study. “The desire to move hasn’t changed, but both buyers and sellers are frozen in place by higher mortgage rates, slowing the housing market to a crawl.”
Those trends will be seen in Charlotte to an extent, Zillow advises, as home value growth “is expected to be much slower this year than its 11.8% pace of 2022” in the area.
“Markets that offer relative affordability and room to grow are poised to stand out, Prakash added, predicting potential home buyers will face “less chance of a bidding war, even if they’re shopping in one of the hottest markets.”
Zillow’s study looked at “the 50 largest U.S. metro areas to forecast the hottest, or most competitive, housing markets of 2023,” and took into consideration factors such as “home value appreciation” and how quickly homes are selling.
The South was well represented on Zillow’s top ten list, which also included Dallas, Nashville, Jacksonville, Miami and Atlanta. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Philadelphia also made the rundown.
The mixed bag for Charlotteans comes after white-hot demand pushed the medium home sale price in Charlotte to more than $400,000 at times in 2022. That was in line with national trends, but Zillow experts predict the “affordability crisis will stabilize, if not improve” in 2023.
“Affordability will continue to be the driving force in the housing market in 2023, but there is a decent chance it will improve,” the company said. “At the very least the market should stabilize, making it possible for households to budget and plan for housing decisions coming up in the months and years ahead.”
