Greenville SC Real Estate Market Report – December 2011

For The Greater Greenville SC real estate market, 2011 will go down in the history books as the year of declining inventory, and December finished off that trend with an exclamation point!

December ended with 6,048 homes for sale in the Greenville area, which is a 17.3% decrease from last December. That 17.35% decrease represents almost a 2 month supply of homes that are now gone from the market. The markets current supply of homes now stands at 11 months which is down from the high of 13.9 months in April 2011.

December sales also saw a rise in activity over the previous year as sales increased 1.8% and the average price increased 1.6% to $160,951. 2011 ended with sales increases in five of the last six months with October being the only exception. The first half of 2011 was tough on the Greenville market as it was going up against the $8000 tax incentive from the previous year which artificially raised the market. From January 2011 through June 2011 the market was down 14.3%, but we made up most of that ground and ended up being down only 2.5% for the entire year.

So what does all this mean? With inventory down and home sales on the rise, the Greenville market is making its way towards equilibrium as supply and demand begin to even out. Barring any catastrophes, I think I can say that we have hit the real estate bottom and are beginning the long climb up. It also means that if you’ve been waiting for the bottom to get back into the market, now might be the time.

So I still hold the same cautiously optimistic outlook as I did last month. With interest rates continuing at record lows and the unemployment rate in the Upstate continuing to decline, things might seem rosy. However, the lack of confidence in Washington as well as the direction of the overall economy causes me to add cautiousness to my optimism.

Greenville SC Real Estate Market Report – November 2011

There was a significant upswing in closed sales for the month of November in the Greater Greenville SC Real Estate Market. The Upstate saw an 8.6% increase in sales over the previous year and that increase has added a guarded sense of optimism to the market.

As I noted last month, the trend in the reduction of inventory continued into November. The number of homes for sale decreased by 15.6% over last November and is at its lowest level of the year and our supply of homes is down to 11.6 months after being at a high of 14 months back in May.

For the last few months we’ve seen a steady decrease in the amount of inventory, although we are seeing some improvement in the market, we haven’t seen a corresponding uptick. Part of the reason continues to be the stringent requirements of lenders.

One other trend to watch going forward is the days on the market. We’re seeing an increase in the time it takes to sell a home in the Greenville market go from 104 days to 115 days over the past year.

Overall the Greater Greenville market continues to see improvement. With the lowest unemployment rate in the state and the what seems to be continuous announcement of new jobs coming to the area, I’m cautiously optimistic for 2012.

Greenville SC Real Estate Market Report - October 2011

The Greater Greenville SC Real Estate market continues to lead the national trend of falling inventory. The number of homes for sale in the Greater Greenville SC market for October 2011 was 1138 units less than the previous year. That's a 14.7% reduction in inventory and the last time inventory was this low was over 4 years ago! That's great news for home sellers who have been battling a 5 year buyers market. It's also cautionary evidence to buyers that the days of being able to purchase a home considerably below the listing price may be coming to an end.

The Greater Greenville market also enjoys a much lower median price of $140,000 when compared to the national average $165,000. Our markets median price has dropped only .6% compared to the national average of 3.5%.

Overall sales are down 4% YTD through October. Continued turmoil in the equity markets and lack of confidence in the direction Washington has taken continue to affect the overall housing market. However, Greenville's strong economy marked by continued improvement in the employment rate and a Housing Affordability Index well above the national average is creating the confidence needed to begin our climb out of the down market.