The Childress Klein Center for Real Estate (CKCRE), a University of North Carolina at Charlotte organization dedicated to advancing local knowledge in real estate and public policy, is embarking on an ambitious project. Starting early next year, CKCRE will begin an extensive five-year study that will result in a comprehensive new source of data analytics on the housing market within the Charlotte metropolitan area.
The study has already garnered monetary support from over ten organizations and firms totaling more than $200,000. These supporters include the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, the Piedmont Public Policy Institute, the National Association of Realtors, Center City Partners, True Homes Inc, Evergreen Strategies, Crosland Southeast, the Foundation for the Carolinas, the Charlotte Housing Authority and Moore & Van Allen.
The final report will include a comprehensive inventory of the current housing stock, an analysis of housing affordability across all income levels and a higher-level comparison of the Charlotte regional housing market with those of other regional metropolitan areas. All three of these components will be published in order to provide the public and the local government with an understandable and extensive report of the affordability of both renting and purchasing housing within the Charlotte metropolitan area.
This study should provide policymakers with clear and accurate statistics that could allow them to find better solutions to overpriced housing, gentrification and homelessness across the Charlotte Metropolitan area. A similar but less expansive report released earlier this year stated that “39 percent of people claimed they were unable to afford rent, and even though evictions were down, more evictions had been filed.” The report also stated that “an individual would have to work 103 hours per week at minimum wage to afford a 2-bedroom unit at a fair market rent, according to the report.” It is clear that there is a severe lack of affordable housing within Charlotte and its surrounding area.
Richard Buttimer, director of the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate at UNC Charlotte, stated that “Policymakers and others who wish to affect change in the Charlotte market will increasingly have to take into account how changes in the suburban markets affect Charlotte and vice versa. Currently, information on the Charlotte market is easier to find than on the surrounding counties. A major goal of this report will be to provide a consistent and uniform degree of detail, as well as a uniform data format, across the entire region.”
The report will be published during the “State of Housing in Charlotte Summit” to be hosted by the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate at UNC Charlotte Center City. This event will allow for the public to express their thoughts on the the report and it will have several national speakers and members of the Childress Klein Center who will provide an in-depth overview of the report.