Home sales in South Carolina fell in July for the first time this year, but year-on-year transactions remain well ahead of 2020.
Purchases of residential real estate in the state of Palmetto fell 9.5 percent last month compared to the same month a year ago, according to the Association of Realtors SC.
All metropolitan areas of the state recorded declines in July.
Home purchases in Charleston fell nearly 12%, while sales in Columbia fell 8%, Myrtle Beach fell 5%, Rock Hill fell 4% and Greenville fell 3% over the year. previous year.
On the coast, Hilton Head saw a 17% drop and Beaufort saw a 26% drop in sales.
Across the state, 9,658 households changed hands in July, up from 10,675 in the same month last year.
The decline in sales is not due to the sudden disinterest in buying a home. This is mainly due to homeowners rushing to buy last year after the economic shutdown ended in the spring of 2020.
“Last year we had this huge accumulated demand when the state opened,” said Owen Tyler, a former chairman of the state’s real estate brokers group that works with the Cassina group in Charleston.
“People were writing contracts in June that closed in July,” he said. “That’s why the July 2020 number was so high.”
He believes August sales figures are likely to return to more normal levels of pre-COVID-19 rates in 2018 and 2019, as people took holidays this year in early August before the school year began. Last year, most people stayed close to home during the summer due to the pandemic.
However, for the year, sales remain solid.
During the first seven months, 65,504 homes were purchased, 20% more than the same period last year.
But while sales fell in July, prices went in the opposite direction.
The average price of all SC homes sold in July was $ 280,770, almost 13% more than the previous year.
The increase can be attributed in part to wood costs, which have dropped considerably from nearly $ 1,700 per 1,000 feet of board in early May to less than $ 500 on August 19th.
Higher house prices are also the result of buying homes at prices above the list to outperform other suitors in a market with high demand and low inventory of available homes.
Tyler believes prices will continue to rise and the number of homes on the market will remain low.
“I don’t think we will see any significant inventory in the market any time soon or any significant gain in time in the market,” Tyler said.
Hilton Head still maintains the most expensive sales in South Carolina with an average price of nearly $ 448,000 in July. That was up nearly 25 percent from the same month last year.
The Charleston region ranks second with an average price in July of nearly $ 338,000, nearly 14 percent higher than the previous year. Nearby is the Rock Hill area, near Charlotte, with an average price of $ 335,000, up 10%.
Greenville’s average price rose nearly 13 percent to $ 265,000, and Columbia’s average price jumped nearly 11 percent to $ 229,000. The average price in Myrtle Beach was $ 255,000, up 16% in July.
Across the state, homes stay on the market an average of 38 days compared to 76 days in July last year.
To arrive Warren L. Wise at 843-819-9269. Follow him on Twitter @warrenlancewise.