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Zillow House Values
Market Update - September 2006
How are Sales Going in Charleston?
Information taken from Multiple Listing for the Peninsular, South of the
Crosstown for number of all residential properties closed/sold: condos,
townhouse, single family from January 2, 2005 to August 31, 2005 and January 2nd
2006 to August 31, 2006:
|
Price Range: |
2005 |
2006 |
2004 |
|
$500,000-$699,999 |
51 |
47 |
49 |
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$700,000-$1,299,999 |
83 |
54 |
88 |
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$1,300,000-$7,000,000 |
54 |
41 |
38 |
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Totals |
188 |
142 |
165 |
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Sales
from July 1-August 31 2006 |
July 2006 |
August 2006 |
|
|
$500,000-$699,999 |
16 |
11 |
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$1,300,000-$7,000,000 |
13 |
10 |
Not too bad for the 2nd half of the year!
2005 was the best year ever in sales on the Peninsular. I do not see these
figures reflecting a big negative. Yes, sales have fallen, but not dramatically.
This truly can be called a leveling out as opposed to a bust, as the media likes
to describe things.
As an afterthought I have included 2004 sales for comparison.
Some of the differences can be explained by a lack of inventory in a given price
range. In 2004 there were fewer homes in 7 figures, and a correspondingly higher
number of transfers in the lower price ranges. None of these differences are
sharp.
The price of properties on the Peninsular has risen approx 13% this year over
last. What is going?
The media likes to tell us that the mortgage rates are going up - Our lenders
here have dropped their rates twice in the last month and a 15 yr fixed rate
loan can still be obtained under 6% - 5.875%. 30 yr fixed on a ‘jumbo’ loan
(over $417,000) is 6.5%. These rates are still excellent.
Other News
The jobless rate is reportedly down @4.9% nationally. Construction companies are
reportedly looking for workers. Corporate profits up 3.2% and 2nd quarter up
20.5% from a year ago according to the Wall Street Journal.
High end properties in London have climbed to $5,715/sq ft, so says an AP report
in today’s paper, robbing NYC of it’s claim to highest price fame at a mere
$5,100/sq ft.
Mid range properties in those same cities are now $2300.sq ft in London and
$1900/sq ft in NYC. Wonderful Charleston is a bargain by comparison, with only a
couple of places downtown, of very small size, breaking the $1,000/sq ft
barrier. No wonder we are seeing a lot of Europeans coming in to buy our
historic homes. The reports says that 51% of home sales in London are to
foreigners, vs 35% in NYC. An interesting turn of events - England is being sold
to foreigners so they are coming here to buy us up!
Shopping
In our metro-area retail sales are reported to have gone up more than $9
billion, up a record 12.5% compared with same period last year, according to
Charleston metro Chamber of Commerce’s center for biz research. And they point
out that was before the new Tanger outlet opened in the City of North
Charleston. Tanger will be home to 90 shops by January of next year. It had its
official opening on the same day tropical storm Ernesto came to our fair City -
an inauspicious start. Al Parish, Charleston Southern University economist, is
quoted as saying of our area that “tourism, population growth and the still
robust construction industry have helped sustain and grow area retail sales.”
Parish went on to say that “some pockets of the region are seeing a slowdown in
residential construction activity. But overall, he said, there’s still ample
demand for housing to keep local builders busy and shoppers shopping. Downtown
Charleston in particular benefits from having a thriving year round tourist and
convention market.
Mt Pleasant Housing sales have slowed but still there are many transactions. The
town of Mt. Pleasant is growing at such a pace that it will take a little while
to clean out the current inventory.
Sales at the beaches are slow. Now could be the moment to buy your dream home
on, or near, the ocean at a great price!
Auctioning your home
Some sellers are giving thought to doing this. Auctioneers are actively seeking
business, particularly in a scenic, choice area such as Charleston. They charge
high, non-refundable up front fees - $100,000 +- and experience here shows that
they do not deliver. Auctions are still fairly rare most places and our area is
no exception. In the past 2 months there have been 3 auctions conducted here
that I know of with homes priced in the $400,000’s, the $900,000’s and $3
million. None of them sold at auction. After the auctions, two of them went on
the market the usual way and the third sold for half price via a real estate
agent.
One of the auctioneers’ main selling points is that they have a wide reach with
advertising, nationally and globally and an extensive mailing list of clients
throughout the nation and the world. Out of all three of these auctions there
was only one person who did not live here and that couple came from the upstate.
Come and see us. The weather is cooling off and the fall activities are
underway. Lots of plays, ballets and Symphony concerts are planned and the
Preservation Society tours of historic homes start this month.
Regards,
Helene
September 6, 2006
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