Home sales continued to drop in South Carolina, falling for the seventh straight month in December, while the overall median home price eked out growth, according to statistics provided by the South Carolina Association of Realtors.
According to SCAR statistics, there were 5,065 home sales in December, down 12.4 percent from a year ago when 5,780 sales were recorded. Sales encompass single-family homes, condos and villas. Sales for all of 2006 were down 5.4 percent from 2005 to 68,900.
Among the state’s larger markets, the Charleston Trident region saw a 31 percent decline in sales for the month from its year-earlier level, followed by the Coastal Carolinas region — which includes Myrtle Beach, N. Myrtle Beach, Conway and Georgetown — where sales tumbled 21.7 percent during the period.
The overall median price for single-family, condo and villa homes in December was $157,900, up 5.5 percent from $149,700 in December 2005.
The most dramatic rise in median price statewide occurred in the Coastal Carolinas area where the median gained from $176,000 in December 2005 to $220,000 in December 2006 — a 25 percent increase.
In the Charleston area, the median home price edged up 3.6 percent in December to $200,000.
