Living and Working in Charleston SC

Entries from May 2008

Just the Facts Ma’am

May 8, 2008 · 1 Comment

Here are the numbers I promised directly pasted from the MLS.  Stay tuned for updates:

Month Year Monthly Sales Avg ListPrice Avg Sale Price % Diff Sell/list Avg DOM Curr Inventory Months Inventory
January 2005 1034 $270,621 $265,050 97.94% 66.0 4254 4.11
February 2005 1096 $254,299 $248,665 97.78% 55.0 4264 3.89
March 2005 1740 $251,341 $248,358 98.81% 46.0 4248 2.44
April 2005 1515 $271,001 $265,607 98.01% 51.0 4215 2.78
May 2005 1677 $293,590 $287,963 98.08% 50.0 4165 2.48
June 2005 1854 $284,094 $278,960 98.19% 45.0 4054 2.19
July 2005 1554 $306,332 $301,166 98.31% 45.0 4356 2.80
August 2005 1699 $293,542 $287,894 98.08% 43.0 4432 2.61
September 2005 1522 $301,296 $294,778 97.84% 40.0 4605 3.03
October 2005 1390 $304,415 $297,970 97.88% 41.0 4866 3.50
November 2005 1414 $279,172 $274,918 98.48% 37.0 5161 3.65
December 2005 1580 $279,400 $273,756 97.98% 40.0 5328 3.37
 
Total 18075 $282,425 $277,090 98.11% 46.6 4,496 3.07
  
January 2006 1182 $319,895 $312,012 97.54% 43.0 5430 4.59
February 2006 1181 $280,715 $274,301 97.72% 46.0 6213 5.26
March 2006 1628 $306,488 $299,170 97.61% 49.0 6623 4.07
April 2006 1441 $303,275 $296,733 97.84% 46.0 7091 4.92
May 2006 1660 $325,230 $316,575 97.34% 48.0 7547 4.55
June 2006 1774 $289,493 $281,994 97.41% 53.0 8041 4.53
July 2006 1469 $299,110 $290,765 97.21% 51.0 8665 5.90
August 2006 1436 $297,926 $289,799 97.27% 55.0 8969 6.25
September 2006 1463 $279,810 $271,860 97.16% 54.0 9202 6.29
October 2006 1185 $310,518 $299,021 96.30% 59.0 9646 8.14
November 2006 1169 $285,755 $277,341 97.06% 62.0 9650 8.25
December 2006 1179 $282,375 $271,900 96.29% 67.0 9370 7.95
 
Total 16767 $298,383 $290,123 97.23% 52.8 8,037 5.89
  
January 2007 897 $317,658 $306,217 96.40% 77.0 9400 10.48
February 2007 981 $284,909 $275,208 96.60% 83.0 9785 9.97
March 2007 1314 $304,809 $294,880 96.74% 77.0 10300 7.84
April 2007 1090 $303,299 $294,221 97.01% 78.0 10779 9.89
May 2007 1339 $314,971 $303,937 96.50% 80.0 11129 8.31
June 2007 1387 $334,838 $322,904 96.44% 75.0 11241 8.10
July 2007 1188 $308,510 $296,603 96.14% 77.0 11319 9.53
August 2007 1177 $329,696 $316,949 96.13% 79.0 11357 9.65
September 2007 969 $306,913 $299,890 97.71% 78.0 11326 11.69
October 2007 912 $304,103 $293,737 96.59% 82.0 11163 12.24
November 2007 930 $281,617 $271,766 96.50% 82.0 10970 11.80
December 2007 787 $302,186 $289,662 95.86% 92.0 10541 13.39
 
Total 12971 $307,792 $297,165 96.55% 80.0 10,776 10.24
  
January 2008 631 $309,994 $295,715 95.39% 104.0 10152 16.09
February 2008 696 $296,261 $282,442 95.34% 116.0 10292 14.79
March 2008 793 $293,001 $279,615 95.43% 108.0 10398 13.11
April 2008 707 $317,768 $301,844 94.99% 106.0 10796 15.27
 
Total 2827 $304,256 $289,904 95.28% 108.5 10,410 14.82
  
Total 2005-2008 50640 $298,214 $288,570 96.77% 72.0 8,430 8.50

3 months of inventory to over 14 in 3 years.  Keep watching.  If you’d like a specific report on a subdivision, or section of town let me know. 

Categories: Uncategorized

Charleston Market Very Consistent

May 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment

The Charleston Real Estate Market is consistently poor for sellers with inventories remaining 10,000 and days on market climbing, and sales to list price rations dropping.  It’s not doom and gloom in Charleston like other parts of the country.  Average sales prices are actually staying around $300,000 plus or minus $10,000 from one month to the next.  What does this mean to sellers?  Merchandising is everything, and as always, pick an agent that is going to be honest with you about price and listen to them.  Pick the agent first based on your perceptions of their integrity and ability first, and leave price discussions for later. 

What does this mean for people buying a home?  This is only my opinion, but I think that prices are going to drop.  They are not dropping as you would expect, but the days on market and sales to list price ratio trends indicate that prices should be dropping.  What you don’t know is, are buyers using all of their purchasing power to buy more home, instead of using the current market conditions to save money. My experience working with buyers is that everyone wants a home that is more than they can spend, so given the opportunity, most people are going to try to get more home.  What this could mean is that even though the average home price isn’t going down, that on a house to house basis, prices are dropping and it’s just not showing up on the market wide statistics. Again, I can’t prove this to be a certainty, but I think you can get a lot more home for your money now than a year ago.

This does sound self-serving of course, but a big problem right now for buyers is finding an agent that will tell them the truth about the market.  The big agencies are all advertising, “Now is a great time to buy!”  That is a mixed truth.  Maybe it is depending on your situation and maybe it isn’t.  I would say that if your career is moving you to Charleston right now, and you want to buy, you will probaby come out OK.  Even when homes were appreciating at 10% plus, it was hard to get out of a home in less than two years. 

There are many factors is such a complex decision.  Talk to an agent you’re comfortable with and get the facts. 

Categories: Uncategorized