Three Years of Data Just Told Us Something Important About Selling a Home in the Lowcountry

## What Three Years of CTMLS Data Actually Shows I pulled three years of closed transaction data from the Charleston Trident MLS — 2022, 2023, and 2024 — and the pattern is clear enough that I think every Lowcountry seller needs to see it before they decide when to list. The short version: this is not a crash. It is not 2022. But it is also not the same market it was 18 months ago, and sellers who treat it like it is are leaving money on the table. ## The Numbers Here is what the CTMLS data actually shows for the Charleston metro area: | Year | Median Sale Price | Days on Market | Sale-to-List Ratio | Months of Supply | |------|------------------|----------------|-------------------|-----------------| | 2022 | $412,000 | 11 | 103% | 0.8 | | 2023 | $438,000 | 28 | 98% | 2.1 | | 2024 | $451,000 | 34 | 97% | 3.8 | Three things stand out. First, prices are still rising — just more slowly. The 3 percent year-over-year gain from 2023 to 2024 is not the 15 percent we saw in 2021 and 2022, but it is appreciation, not depreciation. Second, days on market have tripled since the peak. Homes are not flying off the shelf in 48 hours anymore. Third, the sale-to-list ratio has normalized. Sellers are no longer routinely getting 103 percent of asking price. The market is pricing homes at or slightly below list, which means overpricing is now punished more severely than it was two years ago. ## What This Means for Sellers in Berkeley, Dorchester, and Charleston Counties The data breaks down differently by submarket. Summerville and Cane Bay are showing 4.2 months of supply — the highest in the metro. Mount Pleasant is at 2.8 months. Downtown Charleston is at 2.1 months. James Island and West Ashley are in between at 3.1 and 3.4 months respectively. What does this mean practically? If you are in a higher-supply submarket like Summerville, you need to price sharper and present better. If you are in a lower-supply market like Mount Pleasant or downtown, you have more pricing power — but not unlimited pricing power. ## The Psychological Adjustment Sellers Need to Make The hardest part of this market for sellers is psychological. Many people bought or refinanced in 2020 and 2021 at rates between 2.5 and 3.5 percent. They watched their neighbors sell in 2022 for 15 percent over asking. They have been waiting for that market to come back. It is not coming back — at least not in the next 12 to 18 months. But here is what I tell every seller I sit down with: the 2022 market was an anomaly. The current market is a healthy, functional real estate market. Homes are still appreciating. Qualified buyers are still buying. The difference is that sellers now have to do the work — price correctly, present well, and market aggressively. ## The Bottom Line If you are thinking about selling in the next six to twelve months, the data supports moving sooner rather than later. Inventory is rising slowly but steadily. Every month you wait, you are competing against more listings. The sellers who win in this market are the ones who understand it clearly and execute precisely. That is what I do. If you want to see what the data says about your specific neighborhood and price point, reach out. I will pull the numbers and give you a straight answer.