Home buyers rushed to coastal cities in South Carolina in February, clinging to residential properties, even as mortgage interest rates rose and prices rose amid low supply and high demand.
Home sales in four areas along the eastern edge of Palmetto state – Beaufort, Charleston, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach – accounted for more than half of the state’s residential real estate transactions, leading the state to an overall 13 percent increase in sales, according to the Association of Realtors of SC.
Of the 7,127 residences that changed ownership across the state in February, more than 3,800 occurred along the coast.
The average price of all home sales in South Carolina jumped almost 14%, to almost $ 260,000. That’s almost $ 33,000 more than last year, at the same time.
In the year, 14,023 homes were sold, about 3,200 more than in the first two months of 2020, when the pandemic began to slow sales before the economy closed almost completely in the spring.
The state registered 14,243 homes on the market in February, a decline of more than 46 percent from the previous 12 months. For comparison, in February 2019, more than twice that number of homes were listed for sale in South Carolina.
Charleston continued to lead the state with the highest number of sales, just over 1,800, almost 28% more than in February last year.
Myrtle Beach sales increased 19 percent and Beaufort reported a 20 percent increase.
The expensive Hilton Head reported a 40% increase in sales compared to the same month last year, and the average price on the resort island of Beaufort County jumped more than 19%, to $ 385,000, the highest in South Carolina. South.
“We had record sales and low inventory, which means homes are being sold as soon as they are put on the market,” said Morris Lyles, president of SC Realtors who also works at ERA Wilder in Columbia.
Some realtors have reported a steady increase in the number of people moving from the northern and central-western states, according to the state association.
“I have never seen a market like this in my 17 years in the real estate market,” said Corwyn Melette, of the Exit Realty Lowcountry Group in North Charleston. “Homes are selling in days or weeks, rather than months, with people moving out of places like New York and Las Vegas.”
The disconnection from the low housing stock and high demand will continue to raise prices as the market enters the typically busier home buying season, but the continued effort to vaccinate against coronavirus is likely to help with housing supply.
“I believe the strong sales market will continue through the spring,” said Lyles. “Inventory is expected to increase, as sellers who were apprehensive about the listing during the pandemic may feel more comfortable placing their home on the market.”
Catch up Warren L. Wise at 843-937-5524. Follow him on Twitter @warrenlancewise.