South Carolina’s housing market throughout the Palmetto State is picking up. As in other states, improving economic confidence indicators, more jobs and still-low mortgage rates are feeding sale numbers and sale prices increases. And, as in other states, some parts of South Carolina are better than others.
Overall, home sales increased 7.2% in Q1, 2017 over Q1, 2016 in South Carolina. The median sale price across the state reached $180,000. for an increase of 5.9% over Q1, 2016. The Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas are neck and neck percentage wise in the increased number of sales category for the first three months of 2017. Myrtle Beach comes in with an increase of 12% and 2,930 sales while Charleston comes in with an increase of 11.5% and 3,967 sales. Columbia shows an increase of 8.6% in number of sales and Greenville comes in with an increase of 5.1% in number of sales in Q1, 2017.
The main deterrent to even more sale numbers is low inventory. Inventory across the entire state is down by 6.1%; in Charleston, housing stock is down 17%. The Columbia based South Carolina Realtors Association (SCRA) says that “low supply and steadily rising rates and prices have been the story so far this year…we don’t anticipate that storyline changing as we work our way into the busiest months of the real estate sales cycle.”
The SCRA doesn’t worry too much about rising mortgage rates. “…we think that rate increases ought to be thought of as little more than a byproduct of a stronger economy and stronger demand…” for single family houses.
Outlooks on sale prices are equally sunny in South Carolina. “The CoreLogic Home Price Index is only 2.8% from its 2006 peak,” says Dr. Frank Norhaft, CL’s chief economist. The firm predicts home prices will rise another 4.9% in the state as a whole by March, 2018. “With a forecasted increase of almost 5% over the next 12 months,” Norhaft continued, ” our index is expected to reach its previous peak during the second half of this year.”
Condominium sales in South Carolina’s Grand Strand area are booming with an increase in sale numbers of 22.6%. Laura Crowther, CEO of Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors says, “Grand Strand…inventory levels, while dropping, are relatively good compared with Charleston…the nice thing (here) is that we are seeing new construction.”
