The Charleston tri-county area continued to attract new residents to the desirable low country life style. The area
population grew by 14,000 residents between
the summers of 2007-2008. Many new residents moved south from the
colder northeastern states. The study shows the strength of the
Charleston area.
Below is a study of the tri-county area and
comparison of the Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties. In 2008
Charleston County was the largest county with 51% of the 8.691 units
sold and 65% of the $2,550,989,048 sales volume. Berkeley County leads
the tri-county area with highest percent growth in unit and volume
dollar sales. Dorchester County is slightly smaller the Berkeley county
in actual units and volume sales but has a higher percent growth than
Charleston County. Dorchester County offers buyers the lowest average
home prices in the tri-county area.
Figure 1: Charleston Tri-County Area Map
Figure 2: Charleston Tri-County Home Sales
There
were 8,691 properties (units) sold in the tri-county area in 2008.
Charleston County represented 4,436 units (51%), while Berkeley County
had 2,317 (27%) and Dorchester county 1,938 (22%) respectively. In 2005
Charleston County reached a record high of 9,826 units.
Figure 3: Charleston Tri-County Volume Sales
The
tri-county area reached a sales volume high of $4,863,562,683 in 2005
and by 2008 fell 52% to $2,550,989,048. Charleston County represented
65% ($1,667,510,294) of the volume as Berkeley County 20%
($498,560,101) and Dorchester County 15% ($384,918,653)
correspondingly. Note that Charleston peaked in 2005 whereas Dorchester
and Berkeley counties peaked in 2006.
Figure 4: Charleston Tri-County Average List Price
The
decline in unit and volume sales did not hinder the average list price
rise in 2007 to a high of $310,671 for the tri-county area. In 2008 the
average list price fell only -2% to $307,623. In Charleston County the
average list price increased by 1.2% to $397,773. Berkeley and
Dorchester counties average list price dropped -3.4% and -6.8%
respectively. In general, the Charleston County sellers were not
willing to reduce their list price even though unit sales had a drastic
decrease.
Figure 5: Charleston Tri-County Average Sold Price
The
tri-county average sold price only declined by -2.2% between 2007 and
2008. Charleston County price remained constant at $375,904 down only
-0.3%. The average prices in the tri-county area offers buyers a wide
range of home choices. Compared to other areas in the USA, the
Charleston area was one of
America's 25 strongest housing markets listed in Forbes.
Figure 6: Charleston Tri-County Median Sold Price
The
tri-county median sold price grew from $122,900 (1998) to $209,081 in
2007. There was a decrease in the tri-county to $201,100 (-3.9%) in
2008. Charleston County’s median price grew from $247,000 to $252,000
between 2007 and 2008. Berkeley and Dorchester declined in 2008 -5% and
-7.3% respectively after solid growth since 1998
Figure 7: Charleston Tri-County Price/ Sq Ft
The
tri-county area had an average of $152/$ Sq ft in 2008. Dorchester
County had the lowest price per Sq Ft at $104 followed by Berkeley
County at $112 and Charleston County at $194. (Charleston County higher
cost in 2005 is probably attributed to the luxury condominium market.)
Figure 8: Charleston Tri-County % Sold of List Price
In
2008 the average sold price was 95.4% of the list price. (It should be
noted that there have been changes by the MLS in the way sold % / list
price is calculated. 2008incorporates the reporting changes).
Figure 9: Charleston Tri-County Average DOM
The
average days on market for properties sold in 2008 were 102 days.
Berkeley County homes sold in 86 days on average. Dorchester County was
next with an average of 90 DOM and then Charleston County homes with an
average of 116 DOM.
Figure 10: Charleston Tri-County Current Unit Inventory
Charleston
County accounts for 6,830 (64%) of the tri-county 10,672 units
inventory in 2008. Dorchester and Berkeley account for 1,829 and 2,013
units respectively.
Figure 11: Charleston Tri-County Months Inventory
In
2008 the average months inventory was 14.7 month. Charleston had an
18.5 month supply in 2008. Dorchester had only 11.3 and Berkeley had
10.4 months inventory correspondingly. Charleston County had a
tremendous increase in months inventory between 2005 and 2008.
In the next posting I will look at the percentage growth of the counties in the Charleston tri-county area.
