February Charleston Real Estate Sales Figures (North Charleston, Mount Pleasant: for sale, lawyers, new home)

[The CMR]

From an independent source, The Charleston Regional Business Journal who received their data from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.
Charleston Regional Business Journal | Charleston, SC (http://tinyurl.com/dd9lag - broken link)

One year makes a trend not one month. It benefits everyone in the real estate industry to get prices back to a realistic level so buyers can afford homes like the old days. The market is correcting itself like it always does. Unfortunately this is a slow process for real estate to revert to the mean.
Lowcountry posts weak housing sales figures in February




Staff Report
Published March 10, 2009
The weak housing market continued to depress sales last month, with 363 deals closing in February.

That number was down slightly from January’s 372 closings, according to monthly data released today by the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.


Moderator cut: copyright isues

[c99]

Originally Posted by The CMR

From an independent source, The Charleston Regional Business Journal who received their data from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.
Charleston Regional Business Journal | Charleston, SC (http://tinyurl.com/dd9lag - broken link)

Funny you should post this just now. I just posted a link in the other topic to the PnC's teaser article about this same thing.
This article provides much more info, though. TFS.

[FallingKnife]

Originally Posted by The CMR

From an independent source, The Charleston Regional Business Journal who received their data from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.
Charleston Regional Business Journal | Charleston, SC (http://tinyurl.com/dd9lag - broken link)

One year makes a trend not one month. It benefits everyone in the real estate industry to get prices back to a realistic level so buyers can afford homes like the old days. The market is correcting itself like it always does. Unfortunately this is a slow process for real estate to revert to the mean.
Lowcountry posts weak housing sales figures in February




Staff Report
Published March 10, 2009
The weak housing market continued to depress sales last month, with 363 deals closing in February.

That number was down slightly from January’s 372 closings, according to monthly data released today by the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.

The median sale price for the region rebounded slightly, climbing 4% from January’s low to reach $183,180.

The statistics continued to show a downward trend year over year as well. Last month saw 43% fewer sales than the 636 that closed in February 2008, and the region’s median sale price fell 8% from February of last year, when the average price was $200,000.

The number of potential buyers continued to rise and showed the fifth consecutive month of increased showings — a total of 18,212 for the month.

The Charleston Trident Multiple Listing Service currently lists 10,051 homes for sale.

Dorchester County

• Closings showed the largest statistical gains in Dorchester County, with a 26% increase in sales over January’s levels and 87 closed transactions.
• The median sale price for the county also showed an increase, up 12% to $169,990.
• The southern portion of the county (Ladson Road to Bacon’s Bridge/Hwy.165) supported the majority of the county’s increases, as sales in that area picked up significantly, and median price rose 18%, from $134,000 to $158,000.

Charleston County

• As a whole, Charleston County showed sales down 11% and a 5% decline in median price from January, but several municipalities showed signs of promise.
• North Charleston saw a 5% increase in median sale price.
• Sales increased 6% in Mount Pleasant.
• James Island and West Ashley markets remained stable for the month.

Berkeley County

• Berkeley County saw minimal movement in the residential market for February.
• Sales slowed 3%, with 93 closings.
• Median price dipped less than 2%, settling at $162,400.
• A significant increase in sales on Daniel Island likely helped stabilize the market; 13 homes sold on the island in February with a median sale price of $385,000, versus four sales in January.

I find it beyond humorous that the Stealtors are still trying to obfuscate and equivocate in a lame effort to prop up prices. Aren't these people smart enough to know that their industry has to have transactions and transactions will only return to a normalized rate when prices have fallen enough to drive sufficient demand to clear the current inventory? Seriously, it's not rocket science. As long as we have delusional sellers and historically low transactions, more and more Stealtors will have to find another career. The best thing in the world that can happen for them is continued decline in prices followed by a significant increase in demand. Like, duh people! I guess it just goes to show you that it doesn't take much training or brain power to pass the R/E exam.

And yes, there are very good Realtors out there. I even know a few. Sort of like with lawyers - 98% of them give the other 2% a bad name.

fk

[mrpeatie]

Hmmm. I wonder how many of these are true recent sales and how many are people closing on houses that they had built- which would mean they placed a contract 6 mos to a year ago? I also wonder about average or median prices because selling a couple of houses in Dunes West on the marsh or in the Crescent will skew the true account of the Mt Pleasant or West Ashley markets.

I talked to my financial adviser a few weeks back and among other topics he said they had studied the market and think Charleston is probably going to be in the dumps in terms of real estate for at least two years. Too much inventory. He has said previously that there was no valid reason for Charleston RE prices to rise as much as they did when you look at local jobs/income/inductries. I personally think there are certain types of houses and locations that only get bought when the market is raging like it was for about decade. Now that there are options people just aren't going for them.

I find it intersesting that half the Carolina One offices I drive by have announcements about consolidating with another office. My most recent realtor works there and is also waiting table according to friends who saw her on the job. Almost all the architects and contractors I know are either being decimated or starting to sweat over the end of larger projects that don't have replacements. To me that says not much new will come onto the market for at least a year and a half.

Would love for one of the more financially/market savy people to break this down.

[beachme]

I read an article last week (in the P and C)and it said that Summerville had ZERO permits sold in February. That is a huge first for the area.

SUMMERVILLE — The bottom dropped out of the housing boom in February with a loud thud. For the first time in anybody's memory, the town did not sell a single residential building permit in a month.
"Zero," Mayor Berlin Myers told Town Council succinctly.
Building bust

New Summerville residential building permits:
2007: 1,100.
2008: 229
2009: 3 (January-February).
That's little more than a year after Summerville was the fastest growing municipality in the booming Charleston area, selling permits at a record pace. With $400,000 budgeted for building permit revenue this year, the town has received $22,000 so far, mostly from commercial building. By this time last year, it had $78,000, said Tina Plymel, finance director.

It's a gaping hole opening up in a shrinking revenue stream that already has meant freezes in hiring, salaries and capital improvements. And town officials are asking to meet with state legislators to protest proposed cuts in state aid to local governments that would cost Summerville another $375,000 on top of cuts last year.
Summerville's big slice of the late 1990s-2000s runaway growth helped the town avoid tax increases. Demand got so intense that the council in late 2007 put a moratorium on large new developments while it wrestled with growth issues. The issues have candidates in the council election this spring staking out growth and anti-growth platforms.
The lone permit issued in February was for a commercial project to build a new paint shop at the Norton & Richardson car body repair business. The town now has 3,500 approved new residences on file whose builders have not obtained permits, said Charlie Miller, planning and economic development director. Last February, the town sold 26 permits.
"It's bad for us," Miller said. Asked if he saw any signs for optimism about a building turnaround, Miller said wryly, "I'd have to say it's bottomed out at zero. If we sell one building permit this month its on the way back up."
Reach Bo Petersenat 937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.


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[pokrplr]

i read the same article and maybe i just dont get it? in our subdivision in summerville, they sold 20+ new homes in Feb, do they not need to apply for permits? or is summerville just reporting inside the city limits? i'm confused

[OleTomCat]

Cane Bay is in Berkeley County, Summerville reports Dorchester County.

[mrpeatie]

Porkr- they pull the permit before they start construction. So if they finish the house and close that permit was sold last year before construction began. Similarly if some one puts down a deposit/contract before construction they wouldn't necessarily pull the permit immediately since they might ber preparing drawings to reflect owner changes/etc.

A permit is required for new construction so they don't reflect on sales of existing homes.

[Maryjane55us]

Asked if he saw any signs for optimism about a building turnaround, Miller said wryly, "I'd have to say it's bottomed out at zero. If we sell one building permit this month its on the way back up."
Reach Bo Petersenat 937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.

I KNOW this is suppose to be a "funny".. but it's also a good example of how *skewed* (as in skrewy) data can be. You can twist it all kinds of ways.. kind of like those animal balloons.

[jesposito]

i can certainly agree with the statistics listed above...we were dead in the water 4-5 months ago in Dorchester County as most builders were from the data i pull monthly. Bear in mind most of the new construction sales that are currently taking place in Summerville won't actually permit for another 4-8 weeks due to processing, selections, etc. and won't close until June/July. There should be a pretty significant increase in the next month (in permits) or so as the sales pace there has picked up