Category Archives: Market Statistics

NEW SALES – Pending (Ratified contracts) Down -6% in August of ’24 versus August of ’23. See Chart below – The orange line represents ratified contracts by week last year…the green line is this year…and the blue line is the 15 year average for each week. Follow the green line below.

*written sales (ratified contracts) reflect buyer sentiment and predict the number of closed sales in a month or two as ratified contracts typically close within 4-8 weeks.

CLOSED SALES 149I homes closed in August 2024 down -7.9% from August of 2023

MEDIAN SALES PRICE The Median sale price in the Charleston market $422,670, up 5.67% from August 2023 and has continued to stay in a tight band between $400k and $425k for most of the last 26+ months.

The Average sales price was $617,873, up 11.54% from August of 2024

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE PER SQFT  While the median sales price is remaining in a tight band, The Average Sold Dollar per sqft remains near an all-time high, at about $291 / SQFT. This means that homes are continuing to appreciate despite a stable median Sale Price

SEASONAL STATS The seasonal surge in median price that is typically experienced in the spring/summer market trended about 6% above last year’s seasonal surge, suggesting that the current pricing in our market has a solid base and given low inventory levels relative to sales, could mean that additional price gains lie ahead.

*Please note that all real estate is local; some local submarkets where there is a lot of new construction in close proximity and similarly priced are seeing prices advance more slowly.

INVENTORY Active Inventory was at approximately 4,000 listings in August, which is a significant increase over the 1,035 listing “floor” that we set in February of 2022. However, we need approximately 3,500 additional listings, market wide, to achieve a balanced market (5 months of inventory). The gap between the number of listings available for sale and the number of listings needed to maintain a balanced market is still substantial. see chart below

Approximately 1,928 new listings came online in August, well ahead of last year’s numbers, which should help drive sales later this year.

The Charleston market has about ten weeks of inventory as a whole, still leaning toward a seller’s market (this varies by price range and specific location). The most active areas have inventory levels are in the 4-6 week range.

NEW CONSTRUCTION New construction represents 45% of all pending contracts in the MLS and comprises about 36% of the closings

FORECLOSURES AND SHORT SALES Foreclosures and Short Sale combined are at 0.9% of all available listings. This is down from 1.8% of all available listings on 1/1/2020. This are very few “newly distressed” properties in the pipeline.

Record home equity is driving the historically low delinquency rate along with high levels of employment. Homeowners do not want to lose their equity.

MILLION DOLLAR PLUS MARKET We are at roughly double the monthly pre-pandemic sales levels of $1MM+ properties. This market segment remains robust.

If you would like more market information or have a real estate need, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Gena Glaze

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The Real estate market is still active and the median sales price continues to remain steady – It has been roughly between 400k and 425K for over 24 months. Inventory is still below what is needed for a balanced market, but new listings are rising. Below are July 2024 calculations.

PRICE: The median sales price was $425,473, up about 5% from July 2023. The average sales price was $658,344. The median price per sqft was $228 and the average was $300 / sqft

NEW SALES: Pending sales for July were at 2,139 up 15.3 from July 2023

SUPPLY: There were 2139 New Listings in July 2024 – up 15.6%. The median days on market was 20, with approximately 2.9 months of inventory. Still under the 5 months of inventory recommended for a balanced market.

CLOSED SALES: 382 properties closed in July 2024 which is up 10 percent from July of 2023.

Gena Glaze

SALES PRICE

The Median sales Price at the end of June in the Charleston MLS was $425,000 and the average sales price $646,792

The Median sale price in the Charleston market continues to stay in a tight band between $400k and $425k where it has been for most of the last 24+ months. In June, the Median Sale Price matched it’s all time high of approximately $425,000 – has remained at that level for three consecutive months.

The seasonal surge in median is trending about 3% above last year’s seasonal surge, suggesting that the current pricing in our market has a solid base for additional price gains.

WRIITEN SALES

Written sales market-wide finished +3% in June of ’24 versus June of ’23, the first year-over-year increase in 2024. This is an indicator of future sales.

Last week saw 281 properties go under contract market-wide.

The orange line represents ratified contracts by week last year…the green line is this year…and the blue line is the 15 year average for each week.

Follow the green line below.

Using a median gives you the middle point of the data that is less likely to be skewed, Most experts believe it is best for tracking data Longterm.

 PRICE PER SQFT

While the median sales price is remaining in a tight band, The Average Sold Dollar per sqft remains at an all-time high, well above one year ago, indicating that consumers are getting a smaller house for the money and that homes are continuing to appreciate despite a stable median Sale Price

INVENTORY

2,113 New listings came on the market in June 2024 which is a 6.1 % increase over June of 2023 and year to date, there is a16.6% increase of new listings over 2023.

 Active Inventory stands at approximately 3,800 listings in mid July.

While this level of inventory is a significant increase over the 1,035 listing “floor” that we set in February of 2022, we still need roughly 4,300 additional listings market wide to achieve a balanced market (5 months of inventory)

The gap between the number of listings available for sale and the number of listings needed to maintain a balanced market is substantial. see chart below.

NEW CONSTRUCTION SALES

New construction represents 42% of all pending contracts in the MLS and new construction comprises about 38% of the closings.

DISTRESSED PROPERTIES

Foreclosures and Short Sales continue to hold at a combined 0.9% of all available listings currently. They are still at extremely low levels.

OVER-MILLION MARKET

We are at roughly double the monthly pre-pandemic sales levels of $1MM+ properties. This market segment remains surprisingly robust.

These statistics reflect the entire Charleston Metro area, but real estate is hyper-local and can vary by area and neighborhood. If you would like information about your neighborhood and home, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Gena Glaze

843-343-8239

Gena@GenaGlaze.com

At the end of May 2024, the median sales price closed out in the Charleston MLS at $425,000 and Median Days on Market was 12.

The current level of demand, although down 40% from 2021, is pacing around the 15 year average and is happening when interest rates are the highest that they have been in 20-25 years . Further, prices are hovering at their record highs and have been for aproximately18 months. This means that affordability is more challenging than it has been for the last few decades (high prices + high rates) and yet sales sit at a historically appropriate level in terms of units. This suggests that the consumer wants and/or needs housing to the point where they are willing to deal with affordability issues – at least for now.

The chart below shows this year’s number of ratified contracts market wide by week (green), last year’s number (orange) and the 15 year average (blue). As you can see, the green line has tracked very closely with the blue line with only two weeks well below the 15 year average and one week well above the 15 year average.

Supply

When a life change occurs (Marriage, death, additions to a family, new job, etc) frequently, housing needs change which often leads to a new listing entering the housing market.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a pause in this cycle as interest rates have risen rapidly from the 3 percent range into the mid 7 percent range. Homeowners who have a mortgage in place at a very low interest rate are reluctant to part with that low rate and move into a home, with a higher rate, that may better suits their needs.

According to ICE Mortgage Technology, over 90% of the mortgages in the United States have a mortgage rate under 6%.

See below from ICE:

Change still happens in people’s lives and homeowners can only hold back for so long. They will eventually list their homes (move) when the life circumstances dictate the need is great, despite the rate differential. We have been seeing this happen.

This trend started in November of 2023. In the chart below, the orange line shows listings taken in the most recent 12 months and the blue line shows the prior 12 months. You’ll note that, inside the red circle (November onward), new listings taken have outpaced the prior year every month.

A Balanced Market

A “balanced market” is generally considered to be when we have around 5 months of inventory, meaning that the current level of listings, if no new properties enter the market, would sell down to zero in five months based on current sales levels. On average, it would take five months (150 days) to sell a home.

Where is the Charleston housing market’s month’s of supply currently?

At May’s end MLS stats reflected approximately 2.6 month’s supply of inventory, still leaning toward a Seller’s market.

Below is to illustrate the gap (red arrow) between the inventory that we have (blue line) and the inventory that we need in order to have a balanced market (yellow line):

What does this mean?

• For now, we don’t have enough inventory to meet demand (although inventory is slowly building)
• Too little inventory for demand means that there is good support for current prices and perhaps a little more room for prices to grow

Worth noting:

• Over the last 4 years or so, the market has been so imbalanced in favor of sellers that we now often see listing agents and/or sellers get uncomfortable/nervous/start to panic after a mere week or two on the market without a sale
• What we’ve experienced over the last few years has skewed expectations to the point where favorable selling conditions that aren’t quite a “hot” market feels like things are “slow”

March’s Median sales price was $413,500, up 2.6 percent from March of 2023

Median Days on Market was 16, down 20 percent from March of 2023

Sales – Closed homes in March 2024 were down 6.8 percent compared to March 2023, possibly due to higher interest rates, but it seems that buyers that were holding out for lower rates have started taking the plunge, as evidence by the pending sales – which rose 5.9 percent year-over-year and 6.7% year-to-date, which could Indicate we are moving into a busy spring market!

New Inventory is continuing to Increase! New Listings are up 17.3 percent year-to-date. and although inventory is still constrained there is definitely more homes coming on-line to help with demand. At the end of March, we had 2.4 months of inventory, compared to 1.74 months in March of 2023.