Image by Flickr user Diana Parkhouse
A few years ago it felt the bad news wouldn't stop coming for the local housing market, now it seems that every update is a little bit more good news.
Year over year from January to June, 2012, South Carolina home sales increased 7.3% and prices were up 2.4% — numbers that were reflected in the Charleston area: home sales were up 8.4% and prices up 4.5%.
In a release the S.C. Realtors wrote that, "Residential real estate has finally taken some meaningful strides toward recovery, and they've all been self-powered without intervention. There have been some head fakes in the past, but there's real reason to believe that market turnaround awaits us. New Listings in South Carolina decreased 8.3 percent to 8,279, inventory levels shrank 15.7 percent to 49,496 units. Prices moved higher, Days on Market was down 4.8 percent to 134 days. The supply-demand balance stabilized as Months Supply of Inventory was down 23.7 percent to 11.4 percent.
"We seem to be at a critical inflection point in our attempts to spur more hiring. Job growth provides the dual benefit of stimulating new household growth as well as relieving distressed homeowners. There's also the positive feedback loop of housing creating jobs and jobs creating housing."
Here's the local county-by-county breakout from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors for June:
- Berkeley County: 198 homes sold at a median price of $164,892 in Berkeley County in June. The most active area of the county was near Jedburg (bordered by Highway 17A and College Park) with 49 sales at a median price of $155,000. The most affordable area of the county is Cross/St. Stephen, where the median sale price was $99,000. The most expensive homes in the county can be found on Daniel Island, where the median price was $447,550.
- Charleston County: Once again, sales in Charleston County accounted for more than half of the area's total sales, with 619 homes sold at a median price of $239,500. In Mount Pleasant, the County's largest geographic area, 193 homes sold at a median price of $303,000. Outside of Mount Pleasant, the County's most active area was West Ashley (outside I-526) with 75 sales at a median price of $197,000; followed closely by activity in North Charleston (outside I-526) where 70 homes sold at a median price of $123,250. The most affordable area of the county remains North Charleston (inside I-526) where the median sale price was $100,500—although the area achieved a significant benchmark in June—the median price in this area has not cleared the $100,000 mark since December 2010.
- Dorchester County: 189 homes sold at a median price of $157,500 in Dorchester County in June. The most active area of the County was Summerville/Ridgeville, with 88 sales at a median price of $179,924. The most affordable area of the County is St. George/Harleyville, where the median sale price was $37,500.
Still, for the upbeat nature of the releases, South Carolina isn't out of the woods yet, comparing June 2011 to June 2012, foreclosures in South Carolina were up 29% and above the national average.
