At the beginning of each year I look forward to going back and comparing statistics of the previous two years. I find it interesting to see in which year more homes sold, the average price per sale, and what people actually got for their home, in comparison to what they were asking.

In doing my research this year, I decided to stick with single-family homes and leave out condominiums. My two areas of statistics include the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island.

Isle of Palms

Looking back, in 2011 the total volume of sales was $74,541,000.  This included a total of 86 sold homes.  This number was slightly higher than that in 2012 where the total volume with all sells combined was $64,488,460 as well as the number of sold homes at 67.  In contrast, the average price per sale in 2012 was higher at $962,514 compared to 2011 at $866,765.

Looking at 2012……..

Statistics show that home sellers got on average 93.02% (2011 = 87.91%) of what they were asking for their home. However, this number is always somewhat skewed because it only reflects the final asking price and not price reductions from the original listing date. Other findings show the average home to take a total of 273 (2011=349) days to sell from listing date to the closing date and 15.76 (2011=17.58) months of inventory available.

Sullivan’s Island

Looking back, in 2011 the total volume of sales on Sullivan’s Island was $52,082,650. This included a total of 37 closed broker sold homes. This number was slightly lower than that in 2012 where the total volume of sale was $61,796,416 and the number of sold homes was 42.  Not only was there an increase in volume and sold homes in 2012, but I also found the average price per sale to be up (2012 = $1,471,343 > 2011 = $1,407,639).

Looking at 2012……..

Statistics show that home sellers got on average 89.96% (2011 = 88.36%) of what they were asking for their home. Other findings show the average home to take a total of 195 (2011 = 261) days to sell from the listing date to the closing date and 14 months of inventory available.

In conclusion, it appears that the market has begun to swing upward. Yes, there were fewer homes sold on the Isle of Palms in 2012 than 2011, but much of this can be contributed to a decrease in inventory levels due to many of the short-sale/foreclosure being eaten up by real estate investors looking for the deals.

In comparison, you can look at Sullivan’s Island, where the numbers in 2012 were up across the board, and can speculate the difference compared to that of the Isle of Palms, due to fewer hardship sales.

Hopefully a year from now I will be able to report yet another improvement of the market in 2013.

Best wishes in 2013!

Statistics from Charleston Trident ML