Beaufort Real Estate Flashback: October 2010 vs October 2009

Because I have so many clients ask are past market statistics, here we are going to give a retrospective view on October 2010 vs 2009.  Here goes the wayback real estate machine.

Opportunities continue to abound for buyers interested in the Beaufort, SC real estate market, but October saw many of these buyers refuse to get off the fence.

Despite the continuing combination of low interest rates, and a very high affordability index in the Beaufort area, October was a month of frustration for many involved with the Beaufort, SC, real estate market. Compared with sales figures from October 2009, sales and pending contracts were down in October 2010, according to statistics provided by the Beaufort County Association of Realtors (BCAR).

The Beaufort Mutliple Listing Service (MLS) recorded 55 home sales in October 2010, down 24.7 percent from the 73 home sales sold in October 2009. Homes placed "under contract" also declined, with 134 homes under contract at month’s end, compared with 202 for October 2009, according to information provided by the Beaufort County Association of Realtors (BCAR).

All this challenging news aside, opportunities are there for home buyers. Beaufort home buyers enjoyed an affordability index of 163. The affordability index of 163 means the area's median household income was 163 percent of what would be required to qualify to purchase a median priced home. This is an increase of 14.7 percent from the affordability index registered in November 2009, according to BCAR stats.

Homes are also taking longer to sell, according to the October stats, which showed homes closing spent an average of 21 days on the market, an increase of 16.3 percent from October 2009, when homes that sold spent an average of 185 days on the market.

Overall, 2010 sales are still ahead of the 2009 pace, according to BCAR stats.  Through the end of October 2010, 673 homes had closed, which is almost 37 percent more than the 493 homes sold during the same period in 2009.

Most Realtors won't point to a recovery until prices begin to stabilize. The median sales price in October 2010 was $177,000, a decrease of 8.5 percent from October 2009, which had a median sales price of $193,400. For the year so far,the median sales price was $175,750 through October 2010 down from $192,500 for the first ten months of 2009.

Housing inventory, the estimated  amount of time it would take to sell all the homes currently on the market were no new homes listed, remained virtually unchained in October 2010, when there were 21.7 months of inventory on the market in Beaufort. In October 2009, there were 21.9 months of inventory.