According to the S&P/cast Shiller Home Price Index, Charlotte’s home prices improved in March by .3 percent. That’s good news. And, in Myers Park there was more activity recently….as of the end of May there were 7 properties that had gone under contract, and 10 that had closed during the month. Of these, 5 were listed at $500,000 or less, and 5 were listed for more than $500,000 (and of these five, three were over $1 million). But, there are 213 active single family listings in Myers Park, of which 83 are listed for over $1 million. So in this high end market, the market absorption rate is still not good at all.

On another note, interest rates went up recently which will not help the real estate recovery, although rates are still historically low.

The headline of today’s The Charlotte Observer highlights another factor affecting the Charlotte real estate market “Charlotte loses clout at Wells”. Whereas Wachovia had nearly all it’s top excutives based in Charlotte, now five months into the Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger there is just one executive in the city. These top executives obviously commanded top salaries. Although some of the others are still with the organization they have been “bumped further down the corporate ladder”. Also the investment bank, another source of high paying jobs, is projected to have 75 additional jobs eliminated. This does not bode well for the high end real estate markets in town.