Market favors buyers after 2 year slide

The Lowcountry real estate market finally has all the attributes of a buyer's market:

--Lots of homes for sale.

--Low interest rates.

--And — for the first time since the housing slump began — significantly lower home prices.

The median price for local homes sold during March fell to $197,500, a decline of 6.3 percent from the same month last year, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. That's the biggest slide since home sales began to slow more than two years ago.

It also marks the first time since December 2006 that the median price has dipped below $200,000.

Two-thirds of the homes that sold last month closed under $250,000.

Homeowners across the Lowcountry are lowering prices at a time when too many sellers are chasing too few buyers.

Only 752 homes sold during March, a 33.9 percent decline compared with the same month last year.

"It was kind of inevitable that the median price was going to go down," said Jeff Bowers, an agent with Re/Max Professional Realty who sells homes in Summerville, Goose Creek and Ladson. "I'm finding that sellers are having to reduce their price before the house sells."

Prices fell the furthest in Goose Creek (12 percent), Ladson (19 percent), Daniel Island (20 percent), Johns Island (21 percent) and Mount Pleasant north of S.C. Highway 41 (27 percent).

But not every area was affected.

Summerville homes sold at about the same price as last year, and values rose slightly on James Island and in West Ashley inside the Mark Clark Expressway.

Realtor association data pinpoints first-time homeowners as the most active buyers.

Newcomers who were finally able to sell their homes in other parts of the country also are buying homes and moving to Charleston, Bowers said.

"People who don't have to sell their homes are the ones who are typically buying," he said.

Tracy Evangelista, an agent with Prudential Carolina Real Estate, said homeowners who are thinking about selling have to be reasonable about their goals and sale price.

In fact, she recommends that homeowners take lightly the list of comparable sales in their neighborhood, which are known as "comps."

Instead, they should look at other homes for sale in their neighborhood and look at their properties as competition.

"It's more important to focus on other homes currently available than what has sold," she said.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.