New Construction on Lady's Island SC down 75% Since 2004

Lady's Island South Carolina has seen a huge decline in new home construction in the past 4 years.  In one of the best real estate years in history, 2004, Lady's island had 204 building permits issued in 2004.  In 2008 only 52 single family residential building permits were issued which comes to a 75% decline.  

These numbers are no big surprise as exsisting home have had trouble selling.  Current homes have seen a 7% decrease in price since 2006.  While those numbers seem bleek, the National Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday that Febuary homes sales took an uexpected jump of 5.1%.  The rise was attributed to forclosure and distressed sales.  Even so, this means exsisting homes are slowly being bought up.

I know a lot of the local builder and I do feel sorry for them.  just like you and I, they need to make a living.  As the year goes I am starting to have a little more of an optimistic outlook on 2009 Beaufort SC real estate as buyers really do seem to be jumping on lower home prices, lower mortgage rates, and the first time home buyer government credit.  With building material prices coming way down and housing stock being absolrbed, builders in the area shouldn't have to wait too long until they are back to work.