Charlotte Real Estate: What 2025 Actually Taught Us — and What to Watch in 2026

If you followed the headlines in 2025, you might think the Charlotte real estate market was cooling, correcting, or even coming down. That narrative isn’t entirely wrong, but it’s incomplete. For homeowners in the $1,000,000 to $3.5 million range, it also misses the most important part of the story.

The reality is that 2025 wasn’t about falling prices. It was about choice returning to the market.

Why We’re Focused on the $1M–$3.5M Segment

This recap intentionally focuses on homes priced between $1 million and $3.5 million. That’s where the majority of our clients live, buy, and sell, and it’s also a segment of the Charlotte market that behaves differently than the broader housing landscape.

Buyers in this range tend to be more selective. Pricing is more sensitive to condition, location, and presentation. Market trends here often diverge from entry-level or investor-driven housing, so while you may hear broad statements about “the Charlotte market,” the insights below are centered on what’s happening in the price range most relevant to our clients and their homes.

2025 in Plain English: More Homes, More Patience, Same Values

Across the City of Charlotte, housing inventory continued a slow but steady climb that began in 2022. By the end of 2025, the market was sitting at roughly three months of supply overall, and closer to two months for resale homes priced between $1M and $3.5M.

That shift matters. Inventory in this segment has roughly doubled since 2022, but two months of supply is still a seller-leaning market. It simply isn’t the frantic environment many homeowners had grown used to.

This increase in choice is why the market felt softer to many people in 2025. Buyers had options again. Homes took longer to sell. Price reductions became more common.

What’s important to understand is that price reductions did not translate into falling values. Homes in the $1M–$3.5M range finished 2025 up approximately 2.5% year over year, and sellers still achieved about 99.4% of their original list price on average. That reflects recalibrated expectations, not declining home values.

Why Price Reductions Created the Wrong Impression

One of the most misunderstood trends in 2025 was the rise in price reductions. Media coverage often framed this as evidence of a weakening market, but the reality was more nuanced.

Many sellers simply started too high. During 2021 and 2022, aggressive pricing worked because buyers had very few alternatives. By 2024 and 2025, that dynamic changed. With more inventory available, buyers became more discerning, and homes that weren’t priced correctly from the start required adjustments.

The result was more price changes, but stable pricing overall. In Charlotte’s established neighborhoods, especially in the higher price ranges, quality, location, and thoughtful preparation increasingly separated strong outcomes from average ones.

Inventory Is Restoring Confidence to the Market

One of the quieter but more meaningful shifts in 2025 was psychological. For several years, many homeowners wanted to move but hesitated to sell because of a simple concern: selling without being able to find something to buy.

That concern is easing.

In January 2020, there were roughly 499 homes listed in the $1M–$3.5M range within the City of Charlotte. By December 2025, that number had grown to 1,133 listings. More choice doesn’t just help buyers. It gives sellers confidence that they’ll have viable options when they make a move.

As inventory increases, more homeowners feel comfortable listing their homes, knowing they won’t be boxed into a difficult next step. That increase in seller participation is one of the healthiest forces a market can experience. It’s how balance returns.

What We Expect in 2026

Based on what unfolded in 2025, particularly in the $1M–$3.5M segment, several themes are likely to shape the Charlotte market in 2026.

Inventory should continue to rise, but at a slower and more sustainable pace. The sharp reset that followed the ultra-low inventory years appears to be behind us. What lies ahead is gradual normalization rather than a surge of new listings. Replacement costs, land constraints, and lifestyle-driven decisions will continue to limit oversupply.

Pricing is expected to remain stable, with modest upside for the best homes. Well-located, well-presented properties should continue to sell close to list price. Homes that rely on outdated pricing assumptions from earlier cycles are likely to struggle. The 2.5% appreciation seen in 2025, even in a higher-rate environment, suggests resilience rather than vulnerability.

Interest rates will remain the key variable shaping behavior in 2026. If rates drift modestly lower, even by half a point, more buyers are likely to re-enter the market, helping absorb inventory and support pricing. If rates remain elevated, buyers will stay selective and sellers will need to price thoughtfully. In either case, the market is more likely to move steadily than sharply in either direction.

It’s also worth keeping rate expectations grounded. While many buyers and sellers still think of today’s mortgage rates as “high,” they are actually close to the 30-year historical average. The ultra-low rates of 2020 and 2021 were the exception, not the rule. As we move through 2026, rates may drift down somewhat, but buyers will eventually need to adjust to a new normal that looks more like long-term history than the recent past. That adjustment doesn’t stop the market from functioning, it simply shifts how buyers evaluate affordability and how sellers think about pricing and timing.

The Bigger Picture for Charlotte Homeowners

For homeowners in Charlotte’s $1M– $3.5M range, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of balance rather than volatility. Buyers benefit from more options. Sellers gain confidence as inventory normalizes. Strategy matters more than speed.

That may not make for dramatic headlines, but it’s exactly what a healthy, sustainable real estate market looks like.