The Summerville real estate market has taken off, with median home prices above
the "high water mark" of 2007 (see graph). Many new construction projects are underway including large projects like Nexton, which will cater to new Volvo employees in their Ridgeville plant. Travel and Leisure Magazine named Charleston as the best city
in the US for the fifth consecutive year and they also named us the 2ndbest city in the World. Southern Living magazine named Charleston the #1 Best City in the South. Food and Wine magazine included Charleston in their list of the Top 10 Most Exciting Food Cities in the World.
In business news Volvo and Mercedes plants moving in have begun to have a ripple effect here. IFA, a German Automotive supplier, plans to expand by adding a new 234,000 square foot plant in Berkeley County( 120 jobs.) The company presently makes about 2 million drive shafts a year at its Ladson facility. Knapheide is building a 75,000 square foot facility ( 63 jobs) in Charleston County to provide and install van interiors and bodies for the Mercedes plant located down the road. T-Mobile will renovate the abandoned Rivers Ave Kmart store in N Chas to create the largest call center for the carrier adding 400 new jobs.
Of course, with all this going on, the real estate market continues to move forward nicely. Year to date, transactions are up 7.7% over the same time period from 2016. 2017 will likely be the busiest year in Charleston history. We may sell over 18k units. Median sales price is up a modest and sustainable 3.9%. Median sales price is at an all time high of $253k. However, according to my regression analysis of prices back to 1991, we are still undervalued. We should have a median price of about $270k right now. Mt Pleasant continues to be a very attractive area with median prices in the $225/sqft range. However, Park Circle in N Charleston and Hanahan and Daniel Island have become hot spots for Boeing employees. And now Summerville and Goose Creek are seeing a boom with the coming of Volvo.
