Charleston real estate market report, sales, inventory and home prices, August 3, 2010
Charleston home sales topped 1000 in June for the first time since the summer of 2007 and certainly, the home buyer tax credit was an important factor. But equally important is the improvement in sales in both mid priced and luxury Charleston real estate.
The Charleston real estate market has benefited from positive local economic news including the announcement by Boeing to build the 787 Dreamliner assembly facility. And home sales have gone from the lows to the highs but where's next.
Obviously, a lot of demand was pulled forward and unfortunately, the second half of the year will not be as strong as the first half. Plus, seasonal trends generally slow housing during the last few months of the year. So as expected, an early look at July shows 595 homes have closed already so you can add another 10 percent for late reporting. The big positive surprise was that the median price for homes sold in July was over $200,000, again, first time for that in a while but that doesn't necessarily mean that homes have suddenly increased in value, it's the mix of homes sold that improved the median.
Maybe August will be a little better because it usually beats July but September through December should be a little softer as always. For 2011, jobs, not incentives will determine how well the local (and national) housing market will be.
Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Home Prices
Excellent improvement in sales, slightly lower inventory and absorption rates and slightly lower home prices.
Sales and Inventory
Home sales
Monthly sales are represented by the blue line for 2008, the red line for 2009 and the yellow line for 2010.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how about one word for the sales chart. Nice!
Inventory and absorption rate
Inventory is represented by the red line and corresponds to the left axis, the absorption rate is represented by the blue line and corresponds to the right axis.
Inventory has climbed a little faster this year than last and remains about the same because many sellers felt more confident about putting their homes on the market this year. The absorption rate is at its best level in years but there is still way too much inventory. There is nothing more important to watch than inventory.
Sales, inventory and absorption rate for all homes and by price point
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.