West Ashley Real Estate Market: Over $175 Million Sold YTD

Posted by Lee and Katherine Keadle on Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at 2:38pm.


real estate in west ashley

How is the West Ashley real estate market? We get this question quite often from prospective home buyers who are searching for a home in the Charleston real estate market. West Ashley is one of the more affordable suburb communities of Charleston, and it’s located just southwest of the city proper. You’ll find a range of purchasing opportunities – from historic houses to brand new construction homes in West Ashley.

Current prices for West Ashley houses for sale start in the high $100’s for a nice starter home and go up to a couple million dollars for a home on the Ashley or Stono River. Most condos in West Ashley range from $100K to $250K for a larger floor plan. However, keep in mind that many of the condos on the lower end of this scale are cash only – meaning that lenders will not write loans for these due to litigations or a high ratio of investor owned units. West Ashley townhouses generally run a little higher in price compared to condos ($120-250K).

The older, more established neighborhoods in West Ashley are closer to downtown Charleston (a 5 to 10 minute drive). Some of the most popular include Byrnes Down, South Windermere, Moreland, and Avondale because the homes were built in the early to mid 1900’s, providing lots of character and architectural details that are hard to find in homes built today. These neighborhoods are also within easy walking to great shopping and restaurants.

Newer neighborhoods are typically found outside of Interstate 526 where the commute to downtown Charleston is about 20 to 25 minutes. Homes in these neighborhoods are desirable because moving into a newer home usually requires less work upfront as well as lower maintenance long term. Also, most of the newer neighborhoods have amenities such as a community pool, sidewalks, play parks, and walking trails.

The West Ashley real estate market right now is seeing great improvement over 2012’s market. Year-to-date the volume of sold homes is over $175 million dollars. Sales have increased almost $55 million dollars as compared to this time last year! The average sales price was $197,623 last year at this time and is now $212,856. That’s more than a 7% increase in the average sales price in one year. We haven’t seen any increase since 2006, so this is good news. One reason for this price increase is due to the pent up demand from the last few years. Today buyers are much more comfortable buying a home, and interest rates are at historic lows (in the 3% range). With prices down and interest rates so low, buyers have been taking advantage of investing in real estate in West Ashley, SC.