Charleston real estate market report, sales and inventory, May 29, 2009
It's once again that time of month to look at how the Charleston real estate market is faring and there aren't many surprises. Inventory continues its typical spring build but the increases are nominal, sales came in as expected, down just slightly from March which is also typical. An early look at May sales indicates there will be a nice increase over April which reflects the seasonal trend of higher sales in May and June. Having said that, sales will still be down on a year over year basis as the market simply reflects the new reality of lower demand.
Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Sales
Sales continue to be much stronger at the lower price points reflecting interest by first time homebuyers due to the $8k first time homebuyer tax credit as well as those who are interested in buying distressed properties such as foreclosures and short sales selling at below market prices.
Inventory and Absorption rate
The red line represents inventory and corresponds to the left axis while the blue line represents the absorption rate and corresponds to the right axis.
The current inventory (inv) column reflects the number of active listings on the market on the 16th day of each month. The months of inventory (mo) column is equal to the current inventory divided by the monthly sales. This reflects how many months it would take to sell out of inventory at the current month’s rate of sale. It can also be referred to as the absorption rate.