Charleston real estate market report, home prices, May 30, 2009
For the past 8 months, Charleston home prices seemed to have stabilized at a slightly lower level. As we have discussed before, part of the reason is the different mix of home sales with much more activity at lower price points which translates into apparently lower home prices. Now I'm not suggesting that the value of homes is not a little lower today than it was a year ago, simply that if you have more sales at lower price points, the median has to move lower.
But let me try out a couple of new theories regarding home prices. If you look at the chart at the very bottom of the post, you'll notice that prices of homes selling for over $300,000 have declined much less than homes selling for under $300,000 when comparing the most recent 12 months to the previous 12 months. I think part of that is due to stubborn sellers rather than stubborn pricing. You see, if sellers won't accept offers for less than they think their property is worth, it doesn't sell and therefore doesn't get recorded at a lower price.
But a look behind the numbers reveals something interesting. Let's take a quick look at the sales price as a percentage of the listing (or asking price) and you'll see there is increasing pressure on prices of more expensive homes.
All Charleston 94.70%
Under $300k 96.78%
$300k-$600k 94.73%
Over $600k 91.56%
I'd also like to talk a little about the average price per square foot and how it has been trending lately. The Charleston MLS has recently been trying to get more accuracy in reporting prices per square foot. I'm not yet convinced that this is totally accurate but it's important enough to take a quick look.
The first column is the average $ per square foot from May 1, 2007 - April 30, 2008 and the second column is the average $ per square foot from May 1, 2008 - April 30, 2009. Clearly, prices have declined in each of the classifications and if these numbers are to be believed as accurate, it just might give you a better idea of home values today compared to a year ago.
Prior 12 months Current 12 months Change
All Charleston $175 $148 -15.4%
Under $300k $137 $119 -13.1%
300k-$600k $209 $183 -12.4%
Over 600k $416 $370 -11.3%
Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Median price
Average price
Year to year comparison
