Market Trends

The tri-county MLS statistics are in for the last 3 months of 2012, and we’ll be doing a series of blogs so that we can focus on several trends that we’re seeing in the Charleston real estate market. First, let’s look at the Charleston real estate market as a whole – in other words, all 3 counties – before we break down these stats by area. The absorption rate for the entire Charleston area is based on a rule that if no homes were to be listed for sale, it would take 5 months for the current inventory of homes to sell (this is known as a sellers’ market). If there is a 5 to 7 month supply of homes for sale, it is a balanced market. A buyers’ market would take 8 to 12 months to sell all of the listed homes. If it takes more than 12 months to sell the

The MLS stats are in for November 16-30, 2012. When comparing YTD (Year to Date) numbers for 2011 and 2012, here are the findings:

• 5,213 Active listings in 2012 compared to 6,488 in 2011 (that’s a decrease of 1,275, or 20% fewer homes for sale than this time last year)
• the number of closed homes for 2012 was 9,325 (remember that this was a few weeks ago) compared to 8,227; this is an increase of 1,098, or 13% listings that have closed

These numbers show that the Charleston real estate market as a whole is recovering well. If we focus on specific areas, here’s what we find:

• areas with the highest number of closed homes include West Ashley (with 40 closed homes in this two week period), James Island (24 closed), North Charleston (60), Mt.

The Charleston real estate market has continued its trends of lower inventories and rising prices. The inventory of homes for sale is down 21% from last year causing the number of days on the market to drop significantly. Right now, the homes that are priced well and show well are selling within a week or two of being listed, often with multiple offers.

What does this mean for you as a buyer? When you find a home you want to see, let us know so that we can make an appointment! Acting quickly will boost your chances of being able to purchase that top pick among the homes that are your favorites. Prices are no longer going down, but rather trending up, so right now we are seeing many buyers ready to purchase who had previously waited for the bottom of the