Mid-Year Real Estate Market Report

–Drew Grossklaus, Sales Director/BIC East Cooper

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the halfway point of 2023. It has been a year of uncertainty in the world and one of the effects was a downturn in real estate. In the aftermath of one of the hottest housing markets in history, a cooling period has occurred which can be attributed to the rise of interest rates and financial uncertainty. The rate of this cool down has occurred at different levels across the country. Many areas have seen a dramatic change, however the interesting thing about Charleston is that it never quite follows the national trend.

While Charleston home sales have declined from 2022, this has occurred not only due to interest rates and financial uncertainty, but because of a shortage of inventory. Demand for Charleston homes continues to be strong at nearly all price points. In comparing 2022 to 2023, the number of homes sold that were priced at $750k and up have decreased 20%. While that is a significant change, a leading factor in that number is that the inventory level of new homes on the market is currently down a whopping 50% from last year. The combined factors of high demand and low inventory has meant that the strong median prices in 2022 have remained relatively the same this year.

The National Association of Realtors reported that the South has represented nearly half of all home sales for the country so far this year. It is no wonder that the Lowcountry continues to trend as a popular place to call home – just this past week, Travel + Leisure announced that Charleston was named the #1 City in the U.S. for the 11^th consecutive year. Looking ahead to the second half of 2023, prognosticators believe that mortgage rates will drop only slightly, and inventory will remain tight. At William Means Real Estate, we continue to have clients who are seeking homes in the Charleston area and believe that demand will only continue.  As always, we are here to assist our buyer and seller clients as we navigate the changing real estate market.