Charlotte-Area Home Prices Post Solid Gain

From The Charlotte Observer:
Charlotte-area home prices posted their best monthly gain in a year in May, based on results of a closely watched home price index released this morning.

Area sales prices remain in negative territory compared with a year ago, but rose 0.9 percent from April to May, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. That was the second monthly gain in three months and was almost as big as the monthly rise in May 2008. The increase comes as the broader index also has been showing signs of improvement for several months.

“This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing,” said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s index committee.

Compared with a year ago, Charlotte-area prices remain down 10 percent, but that’s a lot better than some of the 20 urban markets tracked by the index.

Charlotte Home Closings and Prices Up

From the Charlotte Business Journal:
The number of residential real estate closings in the Charlotte market rose 5.9 percent in June from May, and the average sales price increased 9.8 percent.

There were 2,024 closings in June, up from 1,912 in May, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association. The average sales price rose to $218,728 from $199,243.

Closings and sales prices are down significantly from a year ago.

Last month’s closings fell 26 percent from June 2008, when there were 2,734 closings. The average sales price dropped 6.4 percent from $233,670.

The average listing price of houses sold last month was $244,316, down 1.5 percent from June 2008. The average listing price in June rose 9.3 percent from $223,470 in May.

Charlotte NC Became 18th-Largest US City in 2008

From Charlotte.com

The city of Charlotte was the nation’s 23rd fastest-growing city for the year ending in July 2008, and is now the county’s 18th-largest city, according to Census estimates released Wednesday.

For bragging rights, Charlotte has passed Memphis, Tenn., in population. The Queen City has 687,456 people – up from 570,091 at the start of the decade.

The estimates don’t cover fall 2008, when the recession deepened and hit Charlotte in full force. It’s possible that next year’s growth numbers will be smaller. Mecklenburg County’s unemployment rate is now 11 percent, a few points higher than Wake County’s rate of 8.6 percent.

“The story will likely change over the next year,” said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. “Since these numbers came out, the economy has weakened considerably.”

Vitner said he expects Charlotte to still grow in the next year, though at a smaller pace. It’s possible, he said, that the city may lose some newcomers to outlying areas, as people pinch pennies and look for cheaper housing.

“I suspect we’ll find more people looking for affordable places to live,” he said. “It’s typically more expensive to live in a city than in an unincorporated area.”

Charlotte’s growth has been fueled by the city’s strong economy for much of the decade, with areas near the central city being redeveloped with new housing. The city’s growth is also helped by N.C.’s liberal annexation laws. In many cases, Charlotte has grown by annexing outlying communities to capture their tax base.

If Charlotte continues to grow as the city has this decade, it may pass the population in cities such as Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis and Jacksonville in the next 10 years.

Cary was the nation’s third-fastest-growing city in the past year, at 6.9 percent. Raleigh was eighth (3.8 percent) and Durham was 16th (3 percent).

New Orleans was the nation’s fastest-growing city, at 8.2 percent. It now has 311,830 people, up from 210,768 in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina. The pre-storm population of the city was 484,674.

These Census estimates are only for individual cities, and not metro areas. The six-county Charlotte metro area has a population of 1.7 million.

Charlotte NC One of the Fastest Growing Cities in the US

From money.cnn.com

The Big Easy is making a big comeback. New Orleans has steadily won back some of the population it lost in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to a government report released Wednesday.

New Orleans lost more than half its residents during the deluge. Few large U.S. cities have ever had to cope with a disaster on that scale. Since then, it has been one of the country’s fastest growing cities.

Only a couple of instances can compare. Galveston, Texas, was also devastated by a hurricane in 1900, a storm that remains the most lethal natural disaster in U.S. history with a toll of about 6,000 deaths. And San Francisco was almost leveled by the earthquake and fire of 1906.

New Orleans is now growing rapidly. Its population is up 8.2% in the 12 months that ended July 1, 2008, gaining 23,740 people to 311,853, according to the Census Bureau. That still leaves it well below its pre-storm population of 484,674.

For sheer numerical increase, New York City trumped the birthplace of jazz. During the same 12-month period, Gotham added nearly 53,500 residents, more than any other city. That represented a growth rate of only 0.6%.

Following New York City were Phoenix, which added 33,184 residents (2.1%) to a total of 1,567,924, and Houston, up 33,063 to 2,242,193 (1.5%).

The top percentage winners, after New Orleans, were Round Rock, Texas, part of the Austin metropolitan area, which grew by 8.2% to 104,446; Cary, N.C., which gained 6.9% to 129,545; and Gilbert, Ariz., which swelled by 5% to 216,449.

New York retained its position as the largest U.S. city by far. Its nearly 8.4 million folks crammed into 303 square miles is more than twice the number of people who live in sprawling Los Angeles, the nation’s second biggest city with 3,833,995 people.

Chicago, once the nation’s second city, has fallen nearly a million behind Los Angeles with 2,853,114.

Most old Midwestern and Northeastern cities have shrunk in population since World War II as heavy industry waned in importance to the overall economy. Much of the growth in these areas occurred in suburban towns and were not counted in central city population figures.

Meanwhile, many Sun Belt towns exploded with growth as job opportunities in new technology industries proliferated. Northerners, including retirees, also moved south and west, lured by the warmer winters and relaxed life styles.

Among old-line cities, New York has been one of the few to buck this trend. In the years since the last census in 2000, it has gained 355,056 residents, a substantial gain and more than the total number of people who live in St. Louis.

The highest rate of growth since 2000 was reported by McKinney, Texas, which more than doubled to 121,211 from 54,369. Gilbert, Ariz., was second with an 88.7% jump to 216,449.

Few losers
Of the 25 largest cities, only a handful experienced population loss.

Detroit, suffering from the turmoil in the auto industry, fell 0.5% to 912,062. The population of Philadelphia dipped slightly to 1,447,395 from 1.446,631. Baltimore dropped 0.5% to 636,919 and Memphis fell at about the same percentage rate to 660,651.

There have been some changes this year to the 25 largest cities.

For one thing, Denver moved into 24th place with 598,707 residents. It replaced Nashville, which dropped out of the top 25.

In addition, Dallas (1,279,910) edged past San Diego (1,279,329) to eighth place from ninth. San Francisco also moved up to 12th place; its population (808,976) surpassed Jacksonville (807,815).

And Austin (757,688) blew past Columbus (754,885) to 15th. Charlotte (687,456) leapfrogged Memphis (669,651) to 18th and El Paso (613,190) passed Boston (609,023) to 21st.