Here are the current numbers:

A. Total Active Listings: 9,850 (Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley County)

B. Total Homes Under Contract: 1,251

C. Total Homes Pending Sale: 505

D. Average Months Inventory (Total Homes for Sale/Sales for Past 30 Days): 15 Months

E. Average Days on Market for Sold Listings in the Past 30 Days: 128 Days

F. Average Percentage Difference Between Listing Price and Sales Price: 95.11%

G. Homes Sold in the Past 30 Days: 660

What do these numbers mean:

A. No real change here.  Last week we had 9,870 homes for sale. 

B. Under Contract homes are difficult to interpret in this market due to unusually high amount of defaults.  As I have said in earlier updates, Buyers are looking for any excuse to take full advantage of a Seller and if they don't get what they want they throw a temper tantrum - even if it is simply a result of them not getting what they want.  From a Realtor's point-of-view today's Buyer is quite difficult to deal with.  Most of the difficulty arises out of the lack of specific knowledge they possess about our local and national Real Estate market.  They rely on stories they've been told from friends (who routinely buy homes for 40 cents on the dollar - cross-reference Section F) family, and sometimes worst of all - the media.  If there is one thing this market has taught me it is to form your own opinions.  These weekly updates are my opinions based on researched facts - not some email I receive from my Corporate Office that encourages me to copy and paste this on my Blog.  Those that are willing to listen, learn and rely on our expertise will benefit. 

C. This number will result in some closings this month but most of these homes will primarily close next month with a percentage of them falling through.

D. Last month we had 25 months of inventory.  Over the past year we've had, on average, 22 months of inventory.  This is encouraging.

E. Average DOM for the past year has remained at 4 months - this number is unchanged.  The hotter the market, the lower this number will become.

F. Over the past 12 months our averages have been right below 94%.  This number often surprises Buyers as many of them think offering a price 25% below Asking Price for starters should be "common practice."

G. In August 2009 we sold 786 homes.  Last month we sold 720 homes.  It appears we will be slightly behind last month and this time last year with a closing amount of roughly 700 homes.  These numbers show that sales are down roughly 35% from May, June and July.

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