by Chip Collins, Owner / Broker-in-Charge
As expected, 2018 proved to be another important recovery year for the Lowcountry real estate market, making it the second year in a row with encouraging statistics across the board!
The key metrics of the 2018 market are shown throughout, including data-points for each month, which demonstrate trend lines as the market progressed over the last two years.
In short, both buyers and sellers acted with increased confidence in 2018, resulting in continued market momentum across many (but not all) segments and neighborhoods of the marketplace.
New Listing volume was up 11% from the prior year, matched nearly by the 9% increase in Pending Sales and the resulting nearly-10% increase in Closed Sales over 2017. In all, it was a solid year of sales!
Not surprisingly, the positive trend in 2018 sales led to a drop (over 10%) in the Days on Market, as well as a slight increase in the average Percent of List Price Received, which has been sitting squarely at 96% and above over the past two years.
Key Market Metrics By Year
With more property owners entering the market due to improved conditions, the Total # of Homes and Villas for Sale is on the rise, ending the year up nearly-6% over this time a year ago.
And, we expect to see this trend continue as more would-be-sellers explore opportunities to take advantage of improving market conditions. Accordingly, we expect this spring to yield a high level of new-listing activity as well.
While individual results varied from area to area (see pages 4 & 5), 2018 showed nice improvements in both Median and Average Sales Price, both posting increases around 5% over 2017.
The upper-tier market was very active in 2018 with 18 closed home sales over $3,000,000, a 50% increase over the prior year. The highest sale last year was $8,700,000 for an oceanfront “spec” home in Sea Pines, a price point we have not seen in over a decade! One other interesting note is that the majority of these upper-tier sales closed in the months of April thru July.
Closed Sales By Price Range
Now as we have transitioned into 2019, it’s interesting to note that the month of January (which many might assume is a somewhat quiet market month) has served as the bellwether for the sales year ahead for the past several years. That said, in the first 10 days of 2018, the new year sales had totaled 101, with 61 homes, 30 villas, and 10 lots placed under contract. In 2019, the first 10 days have yielded 113 new year sales, including 79 homes, 26 villas, and 8 lots, posting an impressive 12% jump-start over 2018.
Of course, this is a small data sample occurring over a short period of time, but it is nonetheless encouraging to see that the 2019 market-open is active and healthy… a sign of good things to come!
2018 Market Snapshot
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