Local home sales down 46% from November '07

Charleston-area home sales fell a stunning 46 percent in November compared with the same month last year, marking the steepest year-over-year slide since the local housing slump began. Only 435 homes sold during the month. The median price of homes sold in November fell 7 percent to $185,503, the lowest monthly level since April 2005.

Map quest

Google Street View, the Internet giant's online mapping tool that offers eye-level photographs of specific addresses and nearby surroundings, arrived in Charleston. The company heralds Street View as a boon for tourism and business, guiding people to restaurants and attractions with visual directions. It also has potential uses in house hunting, geography lessons and vacation planning.

Clocking out

The S.C. Aquarium, citing a plunge in attendance and donations this year, said it will require its employees to take unpaid furloughs to save money during the slow winter season. All 82 full-time and part-time employees must take off 10 days by Feb. 20.

The move is projected to save $110,000.

Local jewels

South Carolina's only hotels and inns to earn five-diamond status from the travel group AAA have retained that accommodations rating for 2009. All three lodgings are in the Charleston region.

The Woodlands Resort & Inn in Summerville has been a five-diamond getaway for 12 years. The Wentworth Mansion in Charleston has been on the list for six years. The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort has been a five-diamond hotel for three years. Also, the Dining Room at Woodlands, part of the Woodlands Resort, was named for the 13th year as South Carolina's only five-diamond restaurant by AAA.

Change of tune

WALC-FM, the local alternative rock radio station known as The Drive at 100.5, has been sold for $2.3 million to Radio Training Network. WALC-FM will take on a contemporary Christian music format if regulators approve the sale. The programming will shift to WRFQ-104.5 FM side channel HD2.