Demand for Charleston area homes increase, prices skyrocketing

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston region is still seeing a demand for homes, and prices are continuing to rise even though the housing inventory is still lacking.

Preliminary data from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors reveals that 2,458 homes were sold in June in the Charleston region at a median price of $353,544.

Although the inventory of homes has increased for the first time in more than a year, it is still not enough to keep up with demand.

“It’s been going crazy, and with the lack of inventory out there, the prices have sky-rocketed,” said Joshua Perry, a realtor with Matt O’Neill Real Estate. “With the buyer’s demand as high as it is, it’s turned into a bidding war especially at certain price points, it has gone through the roof.”

Bidding wars have been a concern for Danielle Valdes who has been trying to buy a home with her boyfriend for the last seven months.

So far, she says nothing has worked out.

“We have tried to put in offer for 4 homes at this point, and they have been denied each time just because closing costs are too great, it wasn’t appraised properly, or the FHA loan we’re going through hasn’t worked out,” Valdes said. “We have had a realtor tell us straight up that they denied our offer because people have come in with cash offers, so when we have the full asking price, people have met that and then exceeded it.”

The real-estate brokerage Redfin found that nearly 83% of their agents’ offers in Charleston faced competition this June. The city came in second for the highest bidding-war rates on a list of 52 U.S. metropolitan cities.

Rob Woodul is the broker in charge for Carolina One Real Estate. He says the greater Charleston region is a destination location, and a lot of people want to live in the area.

He believes what is happening this year is different from years prior.

“This is so vastly different than 2007,2008, and 2009 where you had low-down payments, flexible mortgage rates, and over supply,” Woodul said. “We are sitting here with low inventory, and we just saw the first bump we have seen since April of last year, but we’re still so low. "

Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.