Realtor: Local Market Surpassing Expectations

“The market stabilized nicely throughout 2012, and since January of this year, consumer confidence and buying activity have surpassed most experts’ predictions,” said Josephine Traina, Broker Associate with Carolina One Real Estate.

It’s no secret now that the Charleston-area housing market will remain upbeat as demand quickens and consumers are more confident. “We’re half way through 2013 and one thing is abundantly clear: The bottom of the Charleston real estate market has come and gone,” said Traina. As a result of the strengthening market, Carolina One Real Estate has become the Number One Real Estate Company in the Charleston area.

Traina, The Number One Broker on the Peninsula for 2012, reveals her findings after studying real estate numbers for the first half of 2013 and comparing them with previous years: 

• Single-family home transactions in the first six months of the year topped 6,000, a 28% jump from the same period last year. Close to 4,000 properties changed hands in 2012, up 6% from the prior year. Traina says, “If activity continues at the current pace, I predict we could see more than 10,000 single-family detached properties sell in 2013.”
• Median sales prices rose more than 10% during January through June of this year compared with the first half of 2012. Specifically, the midpoint transaction for single-family detached homes in metro Charleston shot up to $225,000 in the second quarter and was $203,000 just a quarter earlier.
• Greater Charleston’s inventory of single-family houses has dropped steadily in the past five years. Peaking at close to 8,000 listings in 2008, the midyear inventory had dropped to 5,500 houses as of this year.
• Home demand has steadily picked up steam with “more and more” buyers entering the local real estate market. “With many popular neighborhoods and subdivisions showing distinct shortages of available properties, we will most likely see continued increases in sales prices for the rest of this year and into 2014, if this level of demand continues,” Traina says.

Likewise, metro Charleston’s reinvigorated real estate market has triggered a “revival” in new construction. “The builders, small and large, who did survive the downturn, are now thriving, including a number who are new to the region.” Builders scour for available lots and many frame houses “as fast as they can to keep up with this new overnight demand.”

Traina also cited another accolade for the Charleston area this summer. Readers voted Charleston as the “Top City in the U.S. and Canada” in the Travel + Leisure 2013 World’s Best Awards. The readers picked six local hotels among the top lodging spots: Charleston Place, Market Pavilion, Wentworth Mansion, Planters Inn, French Quarter Inn and The Sanctuary hotel on Kiawah Island. “For those of us lucky to live here, we can just sit back and enjoy this world-famous city we call home,” said Traina.