'Shadow inventory' may impact area home sales

Outspoken local real estate observer Brad Runbaken has his worries about the Charleston housing market but also sees some positive signs.

"The Charleston foreclosure market is growing and let's all hope it does not become as large as certain parts of California and Florida," he says in a second quarter report on the local real estate outlook. At the same time, "There are very good deals out there if you look," Runbaken says.

An "unfortunate consequence" of the lending bubble is that distressed properties become attractive at the expense of financially troubled homeowners. Runbaken says there is a "shadow inventory in Charleston" that does not show up in the Multiple Listing Service figures.

He's especially concerned about $500,000 or higher valued homes due to high inventory and jumbo loan rates.

"I feel we are exiting what has been a 20-year cycle of low interest rates and we all know the impact interest rates have on the price and financing of homes," he says.

Wild ride

One of the first neighborhoods to be built in years on the Wild Dunes resort on the Isle of Palms is getting ready to open. The condominium community is The Village at Wild Dunes.

According to the resort's online site, The Village at Wild Dunes is the first construction project in the resort in more than a decade. Luxury condominiums range from 500-square-foot studios to three-bedroom units and nearly 3,000-square-foot penthouses, ranging in price from $400,000 to $2 million. Lowe Destination Development is the developer.

Separately, Los Angeles-based Lowe last week cited better than projected sales at three new projects including The Village at Wild Dunes, The Lodge at Suncadia in Cle Elum, Wash., and Stowe Mountain Lodge in Stowe, Vt.

Sales at The Village at Wild Dunes topped $82 million in the first half of this year, the company says. It offers tony services such as 24-hour concierge and housekeeping service, gourmet room service and designated owner's hotline. For more information, go to www.wilddunesvillage.com or 888-778-1874.

Cost comes first

Buying that initial home is always a big step, whether it's a young family starting out or people living in rentals for years. Whatever the case, price is the major factor now, even more than worries about the national economy.

That's based on a new poll of first-time home buyers by Harris Interactive. High home prices topped the list of 31 percent of shoppers as a barrier to buying a house, although the percentage is lower in the South at 27 percent. Nationwide, 28 percent say lack of a down payment keeps them out of the market, while 26 percent cite the economy.

Harris Interactive conducted the survey for Move Inc., which operates the high traffic Realtor.com real estate site.