The Dickens Mitchener leadership team expects the 2025 Charlotte real estate market to be just as strong as 2024—if not stronger.
Catch up
“With the rise in interest rates, some buyers were priced out of the market, and some decided to ‘watch’ the rates,” broker Aubrey Grier says.
Home sales volume was sluggish in 2024, but there was still enough competition in the market to keep pushing prices upward, she say
Competitive, realistic, suburbs — those are the three words Grier says will define the 2025 market. Here’s what else our brokers say to expect.
Challenges
Limited inventory, high construction costs and elevated mortgage rates will continue to challenge buyers into 2025, DM founder Vicky Mitchener says.
Opportunities
Homes that aren’t in “perfect” condition are likely to sit on the market for longer, Grier says. If buyers are willing to remodel, these fixer uppers can be a great opportunity to score a better deal, as turn-key homes command top-dollar, Mitchener notes.
Get in the market if you can, Mitchener says. As long as you know you are going to stay in the area for at least three years, you can, at a minimum, typically recover your costs given Charlotte’s consistent home value gains.
Suburban Boom
Buyers are not waiting for rates to fall back to 3% anymore, but they’re having to come to terms with realistic options. For that reason, they may have to look further into the suburbs than they originally may have thought, Mitchener says.
This isn’t a totally new trend, but we’ll see it more in 2025.
Rising Sponsored Relocations
Employer-sponsored relocations will surge, DM relocation expert Catharine Pappas predicts. During the pandemic, many folks moved to Charlotte unrelated to work. In 2025, that will continue to rise, but we’ll also see a surge in corporate-directed moves, Pappas says.
Companies aren’t just driven by tax incentives and competitive office leases; they want to relocate based on quality of life, per a recent Bloomberg article. Employers want to see bustling restaurant scenes, outdoor activities, accessible transit and/or reasonable commutes and a lower cost of living (relative to other large cities) — all things that position Charlotte as a top contender for these moves.
More Tri-State Neighbors
“We are a top five city for hybrid and remote work which is very appealing to younger generations,” Pappas says. People from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, the West Coast, Florida, Chicago and the midwest will continue flocking to Charlotte for our temperate weather, strong job market and great airport.
