CAAR has released their first quarter market report and David Hendrick with the DP analyzes this morning the changes in the market. The seemingly dramatic increase in inventory can be attributed partially to the large number of condo conversions in the market – one response to the need for affordable housing. As always, David has a cogent analysis of the effects of this increase.

One danger not mentioned in the article is that of buyers and sellers buying into doom and gloom headlines locally and nationally. Knee-jerk reactions tend to be (in my experience) the wrong reactions. Balance and market sustainability are good for the long-term health of the real estate market. We are seeing a shift in the market – that of properties returning to being considered homes and investments rather than strictly unending bank accounts. That’s a good thing.

A sign of the out-of-balance perspective is a ditech commercial where the borrower says, “I just refinanced and got rid of all of my credit-card debt. If feels great to be out of debt!” If this isn’t a sign of a market screaming for normalcy, I don’t know what is.

Update 04-23-06: With today’s DP story on the housing market and The HooK’s coverage, I decided to bump this story to the top.

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I look to national trends for guidance with regards to local trends. The strength of our market remains outstanding, for a variety of reasons – we should not lose focus of the impact of the constant stream of press about our area nor the simple fact that, albeit quite expensive, the CharlAlbemarle region is a great place to live.