Total new-home closings: 2,882
Populations: 727,689
The good: Single-family permits registered 17% higher year over year in March 2015.
The bad: September and October of 2014 proved rough, registering steep drop offs in the new-home market year over year, signaling possible decline.
The bottom line: Is yet to be seen, but based on March permits, builders are continuing on.
The new-home market in Charleston showed signs of decline at the end of 2014, with the total of new homes sold over the 12-month period ending in October at 1,072, down from 1,265 for the period ending in September. Meanwhile, closings in the month of October declined year over year by 90.6%. Market share among new homes rose year over year for two straight years in February, from 16% in 2013 to 23% in 2015, but those gains are somewhat moot for builders of single-family homes, which declined in market share from 75% to 58% over the same period. None of these factors seems to have held builders back in March 2015, however, when single-family permits registered 17% higher year over year, proving they’re still with this market.
