RELAX.

The entire Charleston Market... today. 

Was 2021 the busiest year on record for Charleston real estate?

(January, 2022) -By all accounts, 2020 was a banner year for real estate as Charleston benefitted from an increasing number of people moving to the area seeking better quality of life.  Now that 2021 is in the books, we can see that trend continued with an increase in annual sales over 10%! 

The first six months of 2021 drove the bulk of these sales and, in reality, the second half of 2021 was actually down 7.5% compared to the first half of the year. So what caused sales to slow down late in 2021?

The best answer to that question has to be SUPPLY, or lack thereof. Inventory data for the year shows continued constraints on available homes for sale to the tune of 59% fewer homes for sale over the last 12-month period, with just 2,138 homes listed as “active” for sale in the CHS Regional MLS database at the end of December—representing just barely more than 1 month of available inventory, a new record low. 

Demand however hasn't slowed down though. Average days on market is at an all time low of just 23 days market wide. Pending sales significantly exceed the number of active listings. 

What's the net effect of this supply-demand curve? Increased prices. The median sale price of homes in the Charleston region increased nearly 17% in 2021. That's on top of an increase of 9.4% in 2020.