March 22, 2021 at 2:34pm | Jonathan Crompton
So Spring has Sprung!

I do not know about you, though I love the Spring weather that we typically get here in Charleston, especially after such a rainy Winter!

Though the pollen that gets dumped on our porches, cars and clogging our heads up we could probably all do without! That being said, its much better then cold weather and its a small price to pay to live in the Low Country!

To the Update! 








Average Sales Price:

January reported the HIGHEST average sales price the area has ever seen.    The average price in February  was $450K which was up an astonishing 17.6% over the same time period of last year.   It has been climbing up since the Summer of 2020, we will most likely see this trend as we have low inventory and with homes selling over asking price its just going to push it up.  Not to mention the new construction is pushing the pricing with many neighborhoods due to demand as well as supplies.
Average days on market:   

As days go by they continue to decline....again...and again... Our Average Days on Market for a home are at 41 days, which is down 40.6% from this time frame last year.   This has held the same since November, which maybe it means it bottomed out...though if we do not see more listings come on it may go down.  If you are selling your home it should take up to 2 months to sell, depending on area, condition and most importantly Price.


Average months of inventory:

Buyer demand is fueling this as well as less people apt to put their home on the market. As I mentioned we are seeing multiple offers with homes that are on the market for 24 hours or less..  We are currently sitting on 1.0 Months of Inventory, which is down 70.6% from last year.   As we continue to have high buyer demand and shortage of sellers we will continue to see this trend hold as well as prices remain steady if not increasing due to lack of homes.




New listings on market:

This is huge, though may not seem with the inventory levels so low. We had a big leap in New Listings hitting the market at this time of year.  In February we saw 1,978 new listings hit the market, which was down 8.1%,  which is not the direction we are hoping for.  Now that Spring is here I am curious to see if we start to see a spike in people putting their homes on the market though I am not holding my breath...well maybe when outside to avoid the pollen...


Homes under contract:

Traditionally January and February are slow with contracts due to people recovering from Holidays and people with kids are less apt to move in the middle of a school year if possible.   I am seeing the tenacity in which are putting offers in on my listings, usually above asking price.   With my buying clients, it is the same though not always needing to pay the most to win, sometimes we can structure terms that benefit the seller more then a little more money in their pocket.   February saw 2,133 Homes go pending which was up another 20.4%.    

Closed Homes:

Buyer demand is fueling high recordings of closings in the 2 slowest months, traditionally, of our year,   In February we saw 1,660 Homes go to the Closing table which was up 25.6%  since last year. 

SO what does this all mean!

Well in my humble opinion, I am not seeing a large influx of inventory. We need to put around 100 homes on market a week for the rest of the year, without going under contract, to return to a semi neutral market, still seller favored. We cant keep homes on the market for a median of 8 days so I do not see that happening.

You add to the fact that the interest rates have bumped up a bit, still historically low as can be, tough bumped up... You have people who live locally, refinanced for 2.875% or better and have a purchase price from a year or more ago...where is their incentive to move now?

I think this is our market for a foreseeable future and we need to get used to it. If you are in the market for a Realtor, remember there are 8k roughly in the Tri County area and the average agent sells 3-5 homes a year....choose wisely when interviewing!

Love to connect so please as always, reach out with any questions!

Onward.

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