Five to eight homes have been selling each month for the past few months on Folly Beach as compared to one to three homes selling per month a year ago. From December 2008 to February 2009, six homes sold at Folly, but the market picked up and 19 homes sold from December 2009 to February 2010. The number of homes for sale at Folly Beach stood at 215 in February 2010 as compared to 258 in February 2009. Clearly the market is slowly improving at Folly Beach.

On the Charleston Peninsula, there are about 950 homes for sale, close to the 972 homes that were on the market a year ago in February 2009. The number of homes sold has improved from 71 homes in the November 2008 to February 2009 period to 95 in November 2009 to February 2010. With so many available homes, the peninsula remains a solid buyer’s market.

Affordable, well-priced homes are selling in Belle Hall. In February three Belle Hall homes sold in an average of two months at a median price of $295,000. The number of homes for sale in the neighborhood increased to 42 in February as homeowners put their homes on the market early this year in hopes of buyers taking advantage of the Homebuyer Tax Credit while it is available. The supply of available homes remains near its lowest level in several years in this popular neighborhood.

The real estate market continues to improve in Mount Pleasant. The supply of homes is down compared to a year ago while the demand for homes has increased. From November 2008 to February 2009 177 homes sold, while 255 homes sold from November 2009 to February 2010 9a 45% increase).  There were 1077 homes for sale in February 2009 and that figure dropped to 951 homes in February 2010 (better than a 10% decrease).  The average price per square foot of sold homes is very close to the same for both periods, indicating price stabilization in the area.

Daniel Island

 There are some great homes available on Daniel Island at super values.  In 2009, 83 homes sold on the island, a decrease from 110 homes sold in 2008.  Fewer homes sold and those that did sell take 171 days to close as compared to 150 days in 2008.  Homes sold for an average of $214/square foot in 2009, a significant decrease from the $246/square foot of the 2008 sales on the island. The median sales price on Daniel Island in 2009 was right at $500,000, the most affordable it has been in years.

Dunes West

The number of homes sold in Dunes West in 2009 was 80 as compared to 87 sold in 2008.  There was a jump in closed sales in November 2009 as homebuyers took advantage of the tax credit that was to expire at the end of November (but was subsequently extended into 2010) and the very affordable prices in the neighborhood.

 The sold price per square foot of Dunes West homes continued a downward trend dropping to $155/square foot as compared to $175/square foot in 2008.  This figure reflects the duress sales in the neighborhood (short sales and foreclosures) that pulled home values downward. 

In 2009 a Dunes West home was on market an average of 191 as compared to 111 days in 2008, a jump of about 2.5 months.

In early November 2009, there were 107 single family homes for sale in Dunes West.  By January 3, 2010, that number had decreased to 87 homes.

The number of homes that sold in Darrell Creek in 2009 was 8 as compared to 9 in 2008 and 10 in 2007. The largest changes in the Darrell Creek market in 2009 were the days on market and the average price per square foot. The average number of days Darrell Creek homes were on the market went from about 100 in 2008 to 358 in 2009. As days on market shot up, the price per square foot of the sold homes decreased to $141/sf (compared to $200/sf in 2008). The decrease in price per square foot was due to a number of duress sales in the neighborhood in 2009.

The number of homes sold in Belle Hall in 2009 continued to trend downward at 50 compared to 58 homes sold in 2008 and 79 homes sold in 2007.

The average price per square foot of the homes that sold was at $179/sf in 2009 down slightly from $181/sf in 2008, and significantly down from its peak of $203/sf in 2006 when 72 homes sold in the neighborhood.

The greatest year over year change in Belle Hall was the number of days on market. In 2008, the average number of days a home was on the market was 126. That figure shot up to 192 days in 2009. On average, it took a home an additional 66 days or two months to sell in 2009.

The median price of sold homes in Belle Hall increased to $408,000 in 2009 and is at its highest level in the 2005 to 2009 period. After taking a dip in 2008, the average price of sold homes in Belle Hall made a good come back in 2009, rising to $452,000, on par with the average sold prices in 2005 and 2006. These increasing values may be due to the sale of several higher end homes in the neighborhood in 2009.

The number of homes for sale in Belle Hall decreased from 48 homes on the market in mid November 2009 to 36 homes for sale on January 3, 2010.