Charleston, North Charleston, SC Get this data
in your Inbox

You have successfully subscribed to the local housing data e-newsletter for .

If you wish to receive monthly updates for other market areas please subscribe to new markets using our expanded form.

Recent Figures Show New Home Prices Gain, Sales Fall in Charleston

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:06:08 AM

In the Charleston, SC market in February, closings of new homes slipped year-over-year, shifting downward off a rise in January 2013. New home closings saw a 2.8% decline from a year earlier to 138 after closings gained 17.7% in January from the year earlier.

A total of 2,423 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, down from 2,427 for the year that ended in January.

New home closings represented 16.7% of overall housing closings, down from the 18.3% of closings a year earlier. Following a year-over-year increase in January, closings of new and existing homes also increased year-over-year in February.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

The average price of newly sold homes rose 14.0% year-over-year in February to $262,398 per unit. This is a swing up from a 3.9% decline in January from a year earlier.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size saw a hike year-over-year along with new home prices. The average mortgage size saw a 10.9% boost year-over-year to $226,116 in February. Average mortgage size rose 1.7% in January 2013 from a year earlier. For new home closings, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed dipped 2.4 percentage points year-over-year to 86.2% in February 2013. This came after a 5.0 percentage point rise in January from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

As a percentage of new home closings, attached unit closings have climbed from last year while single-family home closings have dropped. The share of new home closings belonging to attached units increased from 0.7% of closings in February 2012 to 3.6% of closings in February 2013. At the same time, the share belonging to single-family homes declined to 96.4% of closings from 99.3% of closings.

There was a 9.1% decline year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 1,952 square feet in February 2013. This decline was opposite the price gain, a pattern also seen in January 2013 when the average size of newly sold homes sank 32.8% to 1,277 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings stayed a drag on the market. Combined, foreclosures plus REO closings made up 34.8% of existing home closings. In February 2012, they represented 44.7%. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures declined to 13.8% in February from 19.1% a year earlier while REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings slipped to 21.0% from 25.6% a year earlier.

Please refer to the ABOUT THIS MSA tab to learn more about geographic coverage and data availability in the Charleston, SC area.