February 17, 2014: Almost everyone is interested in the state of the real estate market in our area and the speaker for our February 17 meeting helped educate us on what’s been happening here in residential sales. Introduced by his Rotarian Club father, Vito Scarafile, Michael Scarafile, President of Carolina One Real Estate Company, challenged the membership with a real estate IQ test. No one got a perfect score on the 10 questions that were posed on the test, but we all learned that the residential market in 2014 reflected the continuing rebound in housing sales and prices since the recession. All data was according to statistics compiled from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Proof of the continuing housing recovery is evident in the comparison of the 9,366 active residential listings in 2008 to the 4,716 active listings in 2014. The “absorption rate” of properties under $250,000 is 3 months and for properties listed at over $1,000,000, it is 18 months.
Berkeley County led the way in our tri-county region with increased sales figures during 2014 of 17% over the prior year. We also saw that 23% of all home sales during 2014 were new construction, another positive sign for a healthier economy. Overall, the combined value of all of the homes that closed in 2014 in our region (in the CTAR MLS) was $4 billion.
Submitted by Cheryl Kaynard