Homes sales in the York, Chester, and Lancaster SC counties in February have picked up pace compared to February 2009. As stated by Jason Foster Reporter for the Rock Hill Herald, homes sales are up 10 percent for the tri-county area compared to last year.

Carmen was interviewed recently by Jason of the Rock Hill Herald. Jason’s story was published March 24th. Carmen said;

“It’s definitely a better market right now than it was last year at this time,” said Carmen Miller, a Century 21 First Choice agent in the Fort Mill-Tega Cay area, noting that homes priced below $300,000 are generally performing well.

“It’s a little exciting. You hate to be overconfident, but it’s showing good signs.”

Many Realtor’s like Carmen are wondering what will happen to home sales volume after the home buyers tax credit expires on April 30th.

To read more of Jason’s article  and Carmen’s quotes see the Herald article titled “Home sales edge upward in York, Chester, Lancaster counties”

Its time for the Fort Mill real estate homes sales update for May 2009. The report is specifically f0r May 2009 single family homes sales in the Fort Mill SC and Fort Mill township area.

The report compares May 2009 single family home sales to May 2008. The homes sales data is from the Charlotte MLS (multiple listing service) and the area is Fort Mill, SC which includes communities like Baxter Village, Springfield, Knigthsbridge, Hamilton Place, Indian Land and other Fort Mill communities except for Tega Cay SC.

To recap the report, in May 2009, 26 single family homes sold in Fort Mill compared to 58 sold in May 2008 which is an approx decrease of 55%. The average days a home is on the market was the same as 2008 at 99 days. The sold price to listing price percent is  97% of listing price.

There are currently 550 single family homes for sale listings in the Fort Mill area on the Charlotte MLS service. The homes for sale listings numbers are for both York and Lancaster Counties of the Fort Mill Township. There are 370 active listings in the York County portion of Fort Mill. There is a large inventory of homes for sale in Fort Mill.

Below is a spreadsheet summarizing the May 2009 to May 2008 Fort Mill homes sales comparison.

Information Deemed Reliable But Not Guaranteed.

To discuss or for more information please contact me.

Carmen S Miller

Is there good news with an existing home sales report headline like this?

“Home Price Declines Worsen As We Enter the Fourth Quarter of 2008 According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices”

Standard & Poor’s published a press release today called the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for homes sales data through October 2008. The report shows continued declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States. 14 of the 20 metro areas showed record rates of annual decline and 14 metro areas are reporting declines in excess of 10% versus October 2007.

The press release states…

“Three of the metro areas have given back, on average, more than 30% of the value of homes since October of last year. Phoenix remains the weakest market, reporting an annual decline of 32.7%, followed by Las Vegas, down 31.7%, and San Francisco down 31.0%. Miami, Los Angeles, and San Diego were close behind with annual declines of 29.0%, 27.9% and 26.7%, respectively.

Monthly data also do not show much improvement in the national housing market. All 20 metro areas, and the two composites, posted their second consecutive monthly decline. In addition, six of the MSAs had their largest monthly decline on record – Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Minneapolis, Tampa and Washington. Most of the positive monthly data recorded in the spring and summer months, merely reflects seasonal patterns in home prices, as opposed to a turnaround in the downward spiral in national home prices.”

But here might be some good news for our local housing market in the Charlotte MSA.

“Dallas and Charlotte faired the best in October in terms of relative year-over-year returns. Still in negative territory, their declines remained in low single digits of -3.0% and -4.4%, respectively. It should be noted, however, that both of these values are worse than those reported in the September data. In addition, Charlotte also reported its second consecutive largest monthly decline on record, down 1.8%. Cleveland and Denver were the only markets that showed any improvement in its year-over-year returns compared to last month’s report.”

Ok so the last part of the message about Charlotte is negative but the good news is our area which includes Fort Mill, Tega Cay, and the Lake Wyllie area, is still better than the top 18 metro areas.

Here is the table from Standard and Poor’s Dec 30th 2008 press release:

I bet you most articles written about the Standard and Poor’s press release will highlight the negative message. Is your glass half full or half empty? 

Let me know what you see and read.

The South Carolina Realtors Association has published their home sales MLS data for the first half of the year. Below are homes sales including condos and villas for the Piedmont region which includes York, Lancaster, and Chester counties (includes Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie, Rock Hill).

First Quarter Home, Condo, and Villa Sales Comparisons

JAN-MAR 2007—JAN-MAR 2008

957 Homes…………..701 Homes

A 26.75% decrease from last year

Median Price of Home, Condo, or Villa

$154,000…………….$145,000

A 5.83% decrease from last year.

Second Quarter Home, Condo, and Villa Sales Comparisons

APR-JUN 2007—APR-JUN 2008

1104 Homes…………..872 Homes

A 21.01% decrease from last year

Median Price of Home, Condo, or Villa

$174,000…………….$158,000

A 9.20% decrease from last year

YTD Home, Condo, and Villa Sales Comparisons Thru July 15^th 2008

YTD  2007———–YTD  2008

2454 Homes………….1830 Homes

A 25.4% decrease from last year

Median Price of Home, Condo, or Villa

$159,000……………$158,000

A 0.6% decrease from last year

The average days on the market is almost the same as this time last year at 131 days.

Remember this MLS sales data includes three south Carolina counties which are York, Lancaster, and Chester. Fort Mill, Tega cay, Lake Wylie SC, and Rock Hill home sales are included in the sales data region.

For more information or to discuss the market analysis further please contact me.

If you would like to seach available homes for sale or rent in Tega Cay click here to go to my free home search tool.

If you would like to sign up for free automated email alerts for specific home search criteria you can customize click here.

Carmen S Miller

 Warning: The Sturgeon General advices you to be careful reading or listening to positive homes sales news which maybe dangerous to your health or at least a shock to your system compared to the normal news environment. Care should be taken when reading or listening to positive news.

I get up every morning with a positive attitude with the goal to make it a positive day. During my morning drive to work I listen to the news talk radio station. I don’t know about you but I almost hate turning on the radio or any news these days. My positive attitude flies right out the window after listening to a few minutes of the morning economic news. Most of the news seems to be about the bad housing market, failing mortgage market, and of course the main headline these days the high gas prices. So here is my attempt to go against the news trend and share some good news for a change.

The National Association of Realtors® released this week their homes sales forecast based on April’s pending home sales index data. April’s index showed a national gain in homes sale contracts of 6.3% over March.  NAR’s economists forecast a continued moderate home sales increase in the next few months and it may get better in the second half of the year.  

The West coast has shown the most improvement. Positive sales growth was also felt in the Midwest and the South. The Northeast was still showing a decline by 1.9%. Pending homes sales numbers have picked up significantly in areas seeing significant home value price drops like the West. But economists predict home values will stabilize in most areas in the second half of the year.

As for the Fort Mill, Tega Cay SC area, the Charlotte Regional Realtors Association reported steady increases each month from January through April which is consistent with the NAR report. The total homes under contract nationally and locally are below last years numbers but the positive news here is the sales are gaining each month. 

I apologize if this news is shocking to you. I know this is not the normal news you hear now days. I hope this news may brighten your day or moment until the next negative news story hits. It’s no problem, this positive info is free of charge. Maybe I should listen to those old 8 tracks in the car instead of the radio news. Ops, I am dating myself. Enjoy the positive news for moment at least.

This ends the postive news warning….

I’ve had several request to share what our current real estate market condition is compared to last year. Many of you are considering options of whether this is the best time to sell or buy a home, some had questions as to what the list price to sold ratio is this year vs. last year, and many had just general questions about real estate as it applies to us. Below is a snapshot of the Tega Cay SOLD Market for January and February 2007 compared to the same time frame for 2008, as well as a breakout of Lake Shore SOLD activity.

If you would like specific information as it applies to your home and the appreciation value from when you purchased it compared to similar properties sold since that purchase date please contact me. I will be happy to do a complete analysis and provide you with information that can assist you in making important decisions. We’ve all heard about “Location, Location, Location”; in today’s changing real estate market the slogan “TIMING, TIMING, TIMING” should also become part of the equation.

The National Association of Realtors® announced in their latest homes sales forecast that existing home sales are projected to trend up in 2008 while recovery of new home sales is unlikely before 2009.

Click to read more of the NAR press release