Charleston real estate market report, home prices, Dec 2, 2009
As you noticed in the Charleston real estate market report on sales and inventory, home sales in the Charleston area have been very strong in the past few months. So what's up (or down) with home prices.
The short answer, they are under pressure and are down on a year over year basis. Sales are up but prices are down due to the combination of unbelievably low mortgage rates, lots of inventory giving home buyers the ability to negotiate better deals, government help in the form of the home buyers tax credit and of course, lower home prices (although one reason for lower home prices is certainly due to the mix of homes currently most actively being sold - primarily entry level price range and sales of distressed property - foreclosures and short sales).
A couple of interesting things. While prices haven't appeared to decline either on a median or average basis for homes in the mid priced range and the luxury price range, the dollar per square foot is down sharply for each and yet in the entry level price range where home prices are showing the largest decline, the dollar per square foot is about the same year over year.
And take a quick look at the sold price compared to the list price for each classification as well, the more expensive, the bigger discount from list.
In the charts below, 2007 is blue, 2008 is red and 2009 is yellow.
Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Median prices
Average prices
12 month comparison
