Buoyed by good weather and a slowly improving economy, home sales in Savannah showed strong improvement in June.
A total of 538 homes sold in Bryan, Effingham and Chatham counties last month, an 11 percent jump over the year and 43 more than May, according to data from the Savannah Multi-List Corp.
Median home prices increased 3.4 percent over the year, from $178,750 to $184,750, reflecting a nationwide uptick in home price appreciation.
Jennifer Scroggs, president of the Savannah Area Realtors, said beside unit sales, new home contracts are up 44 percent, with new homes selling almost as quickly as they’re being built.
Bryan County leads the pack with 32 new homes under contract, about double the number of last year and its highest level since 2007, according to Scroggs.
“It’s refreshing to see that if homes are priced right, and in great shape, they will sell quickly, and more often than not, we are seeing multiple offer situations in several areas,”
said Scroggs.
For example, a property Scroggs handled on Wilmington Island had 11 showings and two offers, and she had the home under contract within the first week.
In fact, Wilmington Island has consistently been a top performer this year, according to the Multi-List’s new breakdown of sales by ZIP code.
In June, 37 homes sold in on the island compared to 30 in May. Meanwhile, the 31419 Southside area was the top-performing in June with 66 homes sold.
“The sales have picked up, showings have picked up — I would say June is starting us off to a really good summer,” said Helen Miltiades, a Realtor with midtown specialty.
Miltiades said a combination of the season, continued low interest rates and a slowly improving economy are contributing to a steady improvement in the real estate sector.
Nationally, home prices are still increasing in many major U.S. cities, but those levels are starting to moderate as supply tightens. According to CoreLogic’s most recent home price index, national home prices had an 8.1 percent increase over the year, though not as high as a few months earlier.
“The influences of modestly rising inventory and less-than-expected demand are causing price growth to moderate toward our forecasted expectations,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic in its release.
Industry experts say that will lead to a more lasting, stable housing recovery.
“We don’t want it to go up artificially,” Miltiades said.
As prices stay steady, the number of months of inventory has leveled off to about 6.28 months, or 3,379 active listings, its lowest point this year.
“What I’m finding is the increases are very conservative and that the market is still taking a positive but conservative turn,” said Miltiades.
BY THE NUMBERS
Nationwide home sale prices have seen steady gains this year, a trend playing out locally too (for the most part). Below are year-over-year comparisons for median homes prices for the first six months of 2014. Data is for Bryan, Effingham and Chatham counties combined.
Jan. 2013 $154,450 Jan. 2014 $160,000 % Change: +3.6%
Feb. 2013 $167,500 Feb. 2014 $160,000 % Change: -4.5%
March 2013 $167,500 March 2014 $170,000 % Change: +1.5%
April 2013 $157,900 April 2014 $168,500 % Change: +6.7%
May 2013 $183,900 May 2014 $185,000 % Change: +.6%
June 2013 $178,750 June 2014 $184,750 % Change: +3.4%
Source: Savannah Multi-List Corp.