There was an increase in sales of new homes in the Charleston-North Charleston, SC market in October year-over-year, but the percentage rise was less pronounced than September 2011, indicating the market may be leveling out. Sales rose 1.7% from a year earlier to 176, compared with a 20.6% rise in September from the year earlier.

A total of 2,322 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, up from 2,319 for the year that ended in September.

New home sales represented 22.0% of overall housing sales. This is an increase on a percentage basis, as new home sales were 20.3% of total sales a year ago. Following a year-over-year increase in September, sales of new and existing homes declined year-over-year in October.

Average price of newly sold homes had a 16.4% boost year-over-year to $248,321 per unit in October. This lift follows a move from $225,829 per unit in September 2010 to $226,070 in September 2011.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a bump year-over-year along with new home prices. In October 2011, the average mortgage size was $190,525, up 12.4% from a year earlier. In September 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 2.9% rise year-over-year from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed slipped 2.7 percentage points year-over-year to 76.7% in October 2011. This was a swing downward after a 2.1 percentage point rise in September from a year earlier.

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last year while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. Single-family home sales rose from 97.1% of new sales in October 2010 to 99.4% of sales in October 2011. Conversely, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units dropped to 0.6% of sales from 2.9% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size increased 4.5% year-over-year to 2,171 square feet in October 2011. In September, the average size of new homes sold went from 2,033 square feet a year earlier to 1,768 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales remained a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales accounted for 38.3% of existing home sales. They made up 42.7% in October 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures went from 23.6% in October 2010 to 22.8% in October 2011 and REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales dipped to 15.5% from 19.1% a year earlier.

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