Charleston market report, December 2007, revised

January 31, 2008

We’ll present the data first, a brief comment later.

Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of the data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Unit Sales and Inventory

Single Family Homes

Month	Sales 06	Sales 07	Change	Inv 06	Mo 06	Inv 07	Mo 07	Change
Jan	785	706	-10.06%	3719	4.75	5719	8.14	53.78%
Feb	858	777	-9.44%	4023	4.69	5861	7.61	45.69%
Mar	1178	1014	-13.92%	4330	3.68	6087	6.12	40.58%
Apr	964	791	-17.95%	4692	4.87	6329	8.21	34.89%
May	1189	959	-19.34%	4900	4.12	6711	8.54	36.96%
June	1322	1027	-22.31%	5235	3.96	6932	7.89	32.42%
July	1029	859	-16.52%	5618	5.49	7022	8.87	24.99%
Aug	1043	911	-12.66%	5849	5.62	7107	8.76	21.51%
Sep	1102	718	-34.85%	5963	5.42	7159	10.81	20.06%
Oct	838	637	-23.99%	6075	7.28	7102	12.66	16.91%
Nov	890	673	-24.38%	5999	6.75	7044	12.27	17.42%
Dec	866	593	-31.52%	5755	6.68	6862	12.28	19.24%
Year	12064	9665	-19.89%

Condos and Townhomes

Month	Sales 06	Sales 07	Change	Inv 06	Mo 06	Inv 07	Mo 07	Change
Jan	331	157	-52.57%	1189	3.60	2403	15.50	102.10%
Feb	276	167	-39.49%	1665	6.03	2521	15.47	51.41%
Mar	375	250	-33.33%	1763	4.71	2618	10.95	48.50%
Apr	435	250	-42.53%	1730	3.99	2740	11.66	58.38%
May	404	319	-21.04%	1971	4.87	2805	11.54	42.31%
June	329	307	-6.69%	2096	6.37	2793	12.75	33.25%
July	345	274	-20.58%	2289	6.63	2811	11.20	22.80%
Aug	313	222	-29.07%	2318	7.43	2873	15.12	23.94%
Sep	284	215	-24.30%	2419	8.52	2941	15.24	21.58%
Oct	268	227	-15.30%	2624	9.79	2921	14.90	11.32%
Nov	209	186	-11.00%	2579	12.40	2923	17.30	13.34%
Dec	245	137	-44.08%	2467	10.10	2828	23.37	14.63%
Year	3814	2711	-28.92%

The “Current Inventory” (inv) reflects the number of active listings on the market on the 16th day of each Month. The “Months of Inventory” (mo) is equal to the current inventory divided by the monthly sales. This reflects how many months it would take to sell out of inventory at the current month’s rate of sale. It can also be referred to as the absorption rate.

12 month comparisons

Single Family Homes

Date	Sales	Avg Sale	Median Sale	DOM

12 months 1/1/2006-12/31/2006	12,064	$314,750	$214,000	68
12 months 1/1/2007-12/31/2007	9,665	$315,616	$217,000	93
Change	-19.89%	0.28%	1.40%	36.76%

Condos and Townhomes

Date	Sales	Avg Sale	Median Sale	DOM

12 months 1/1/2006-12/31/2006	3,814	$241,370	$183,000	66
12 months 1/1/2007-12/31/2007	2,711	$257,126	$184,900	106
Change	-28.92%	6.53%	1.04%	60.61%

For 2007, unit sales declined sharply and inventory increased substantially early in the year before stabilizing at higher levels than previous years. Prices have remained very stable. Future Charleston South Carolina real estate market reports will break data down even further by price range and should prove to be even more helpful for anyone looking to buy or sell Charleston real estate.