Homes For Sale Charleston SC: Good News From The Market

If you are searching homes for sale Charleston SC, it is important to keep up with the latest market numbers and trends.

An educated buyer is a smart buyer. In the next couple of posts I will be looking at the latest numbers.

Today, I am looking at the national and statewide numbers.

Here is a look at home sales and home values from the most recent reports.

The numbers for July and August aren’t quite ready until the end of this month, so these numbers reflect information through June.

First, here is a look at home prices for existing homes comparing them year-over-year (June 2015 compared to June 2015):

This shows the overall change in home values nationwide, as well as a breakdown from each region.

Overall, home prices increased by 5.6%.

 

The South saw an increase of 7%.

Here is a look at the year-over-year price changes so far in 2015 so you can see how June compares:

 

For the most part, home values have leveled off in 2015.

However, it is important to keep in mind that prices are still increasing.

As I have mentioned before, this leveling off is actually a good thing–more on that in a bit.

But first, let’s take a deeper look at home values.

Here is a breakdown in the change in home prices over the last 12 months by each state:

South Carolina is one of the leading states nationwide (dark blue states) for the highest percentage of increase in home prices.

From June of last year to this June, houses in South Carolina have increased in price by 8%.

That is higher than the national average for the same time period as well as the average for the South.

Home prices continue to increase, but what about the number of homes sold?

Here is a look at the year-over-year changes in the number of homes sold, again broken down by national average as well as a regional breakdown:

Overall, home sales continue to increase both nationally and in all major regions.

This next graph compares the year-over-year national numbers for 2015 to the sales numbers from 2014:

Home sales have been better in every month so far in 2015 than the corresponding month in 2014.

Homes For Sale Charleston SC: What Do The Latest Numbers Mean?

First, it is good news that home values as well as sales numbers continue to rise. The shows that there is still a strong demand for housing.

Some may fear that we are approaching another bubble, but that is not what is happening in the current market.

I will cover the latest on this is an upcoming post in greater detail, but simply put we are not approaching another bubble.

Here are a couple quick graphs to illustrate this.

First, let’s go back and revisit the Case Shiller graph showing year-over-year price changes since January 2014:

At the beginning of 2014 home values were increasing at double digit rates.

This was good at the time, as the real estate market needed to make a solid comeback. It did and then some.

However, when the pendulum swings in one direction, it has to swing back to the other.

In the housing bubble from around 2007 we saw the pendulum swing too dramatically towards the positive–we saw home values skyrocket.

At some point we had to have a correction, and just as we had a big upswing, we had to have a big downswing.

What we are seeing right now is a market correction that is bringing things back to normal.

This next slide shows historic home appreciation, as well as what happened during the bubble, the bust, and the recovery since:

You can see the dramatic upswing in the market pendulum during the bubble, as well as the correction from the bust.

Although late 2013 and early 2014 saw double digit appreciation rates, since the bubble burst we have seen the market overall return closer to historical normal rates of appreciation (overall).

In other words, we are not seeing the dramatic upswing from 2003-2007, nor are we seeing a dramatic correction that we saw after 2007-2008.

That is why it is good news to see home values leveling off in 2015.

Home values are still appreciating, but the market is correcting itself to get to more normal, sustainable rates of appreciation.

The outlook for real estate nationally remains very optimistic going forward, and in an upcoming post I will get into more detail to show this.

For now, be wary of anything you read or hear that may try and portray the real estate market as anything negative.

There’s plenty of good news if you simply look at the available information that is out there, and I will cover that in more depth very soon

I will also be looking into the latest Home Price Expectation Survey from the National Association of Realtors.

I will also look at some misconceptions that are holding back the market.

Tomorrow, I will be taking a look at the latest housing numbers from the Charleston MLS.

In the meantime, be sure to visit my website. You will find more helpful information and home buying videos.

You can search the Charleston MLS and get the latest stats from all of the towns within the greater Charleston SC area.

You can also sign up for a free list of homes for sale that match your criteria, as well as download some helpful buyer guides.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more helpful information for buying homes for sale Charleston SC.