September is here! Although it is still hot and humid in the Low Country, we should start to see some cooler mornings and evenings soon. School starts back on the 8th for whatever that means. It seems to mean a lot of different things these days. September is a great time for locals to enjoy our beaches as they are not as packed and nice beach days are plentiful. There are still not a lot of events going on around Charleston right now but here are a few:
26: Lowcountry Splash, lowcountrysplash.com
Charleston continues to be in the spotlight! Southern Living’s “Best of the South 2020” has chosen us as the Best City in the South. The Best Classic Restaurants honored both Martha Lou’s and FIG. Isle of Palms made the top 10 best beach towns list and The Griffon and the Surf Bar at Folly scored on the list of the best Dive Bars. Of course, we were one of the South’s Best Food Cities! Pitmaster Rodney Scott is expanding his audience and Netflix will feature an inside look at Scott’s life and how he prepares his whole hog BBQ.
Walmart has also announced it is building a three million square foot distribution center near Ridgeville. The center will need to fill about 1,000 jobs. The Port is down 28%, but July offered a glimmer of good news. There was a 47% uptick in the number of vehicles it handled. 25,128 vehicles moved through the Columbus terminal, the highest count on record. This shows the automotive segment is beginning a return to normal.
Our real estate market has been setting records like crazy. Year to date through July, we are up 5.4% in transactions over the record year of 2019. 2020 will likely be the best year we have ever had. In the spring of 2018, we set a record with 458 residential properties going under contract in one week. We have surpassed that 15 of the last 16 weeks. Many have been over 500. This past week, we set the record at 542. In the middle of a pandemic! Median sales price is now at an all-time high of $295k. July was just an incredible month. For example, in July 2019, we sold 57 residential properties for over $1M. In July 2020, we sold a record of 134! A lot of money from the northeast must be heading to Charleston. Here is one more real estate number for your consideration. Over the past five years, we generally had between 5,000 to 5,500 active homes on the market at any given moment. In February, we dropped down to 4800. Demand has outstripped supply over the past six months, and we are now down to 3,500 active listings!! Supply and demand are a big deal and it helps determine price. Right now, our demand is at an all-time high and our supply is exceptionally low.
Check out the current year to date housing market stats for the entire Charleston area here!
This content is not the product of the National Association of REALTORS®, and may not reflect NAR's viewpoint or position on these topics and NAR does not verify the accuracy of the content.
