Charleston November home sales are sharply higher
Home sales in November throughout the Charleston area were even better than expected with 799 sales recorded as of this morning compared to 507 in November 2008. The median price declined from $185,000 last year to $170,473 this year.
Charleston County led the way with sales increasing from 197 in November 2008 to 372 this year but the median price declined slightly from $230,000 in November 2008 to $221,500 this year. Dorchester County had an increase in sales from 155 in November 2008 to 200 sales this year but the median price was down from $172,647 to $150,993. Berkeley County results were similar, sales increased from 140 to 199 but the median was down from $171,017 to $154,900.
Sales were heavily influenced by the impact of the home buyer tax credit, low mortgage rates and much more affordable home prices due to both distressed sales of foreclosures and short sales as well as lots of available inventory offered by motivated home sellers. Activity continued to be heavily oriented toward entry level home prices driving the median price down but in my opinion, the average value of a home did not decline that sharply in price year over year although certainly it is worth less today than it was a few years ago.