December is upon us as we enter the final month of 2020! That is hard to believe! The holidays are usually quite pleasant in Charleston and it is not uncommon to be able to wear a short sleeve shirt on Christmas day.  Some holiday parades have been cancelled, but there is still lots to do.  Of course, the James Island County Park will be hosting the ever-popular Holiday Festival of Lights.  The three-mile drive with over 700 displays will surely get you in the holiday spirit.  The Nights of a Thousand Candles up at Brookgreen Gardens just south of Myrtle Beach is also great this time of year.  They have cut the admission in half and doubled the number of nights they are open.  Every Thursday through Saturday through December 19th, there is a candlelight tour of Drayton Hall.  Here is your December calendar of events:
2,9,16: Holy City Brewing Farmers Market 4-7pm, Noisette Creek
1: Summerville Tree Lighting, Hutchinson Square
1-10: White Christmas, Terrace Theater
3,4,6: Christmas Candlelight Tour, Boone Hall
3: Christmas on the Battery, Edmondston-Alston House
4: Friends of the Library Book, DVD, and CD sale, Mt P Library
4: Charleston Jazz Orchestra, Firefly Brewing
4: City of N Charleston Tree Lighting Ceremony, Park Circle
6: It’s a Wonderful Life, Chas Music Hall
11,12,14: Charleston Music Hall Live Christmas Special
12: Charleston Boat Parade
12,13: Magnolia Gardens Yuletide Market and Craft Fair
12,19: African American Spirituals Concerts, Drayton Hall
13: Mt P Christmas Light Parade, Coleman Blvd
15: Elf, Chas Music Hall
16: Barn Jam Series, Awendaw Green
18: Patti O’Furniture Drag Spectacular, Chas Music Hall
18-24: It’s a Wonderful Life, Terrace Theater
19: Reindeer Walk and Children’s Holiday Fest, Magnolia Gardens
19: 7th Annual Cocoa Cup 5k, Nexton
19: A Christmas Story, Chas Music Hall 2pm
19: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Chas Music Hall 7pm
Real estate has been crazy good during the pandemic.  You can usually now get a 30-year fixed loan for under 3% and a 15 year for close to 2%.  Refinancing has of course been abundant as well.  It is not atypical for someone to refi and cut years off their mortgage, reduce the payment, and get money back!
The Charleston housing market has been incredible.  Through October, we are up 14.1% in transactions over the same 2019 period (2019 was the busiest year ever in Charleston real estate history).  October of 2020 was up 54.8% over Oct 2019 in the number of transactions!  Median sales price was up 7.2% over the same 2019 period.  Median sales price YTD is $302k.  Inventory has been extremely low.  For the previous 5 years, we consistently had between 5,000-5,500 homes for sale at any given moment.  Right now, we have about 2,800 active listings in our MLS and we are going to sell over 19k homes this year!  New home builders are just not keeping up with demand.  One of the most interesting things we have seen in Charleston is the rise in the number of $1M+ home sales.  In July, August, and September of 2019, we had just under 60 homes closed for over $1M each month.  In each of those months in 2020, we saw over 130 closed sales for over $1M.  We suspect that a lot of people from NY and NJ have decided to get out of the big cities.
As always, we are committed to providing our clients with an unparalleled level of service whether buying or selling a home. We strive to have our clients feel and experience our commitment to them while helping accomplish their real estate goals. That is truly what it is all about! Please let us know how we can help you!

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.