South Carolina Housing Market

According to national data, South Carolina is considered to be the fifth-best housing market in the country because of fewer sub-prime mortgages, fewer foreclosures and home price appreciation. With newly enacted legislation providing a tax credit of as much as $7500 for first-time home-buyers, and the SC Housing Authority providing down payment assistance, and increasing number of South Carolinians can reach the goal of owning a house while helping fuel the market and impact the economy.

Greenspan on the Housing Market

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan says the U.S. housing market will begin to recover in the first half of 2009, according to an article he wrote for Emerging Markets magazine published recently. Greenspan wrote that the recent slowing in the rate of decline in U.S. home prices is the first positive note in the year-long trauma and that eventually, frozen credit markets will thaw "as frightened investors take tentative steps toward reengagement with risk."

"More conclusive signs of pending home price stability are likely to become visible in the first half of 2009," he wrote. Once the housing market finds its footing, markets will be able to tackle the core issues of the credit crisis.

Source: MSNBC.com; Reuters.com

Under Water Stats

From a Wall Street Journal article:

About 75.5 million U.S. households own the homes they live in. After a housing slump that has pushed values down 30% in some areas, roughly 12 million households, or 16%, owe more than their homes are worth, according to Moody's Economy.com.

The comparable figures were roughly 4% under water in 2006 and 6% last year, says the firm's chief economist, Mark Zandi, who adds that "it is very possible that there will ultimately be more homeowners under water in this period than any time in our history."

Among people who bought within the past five years, it's worse: 29% are under water on their mortgages, according to an estimate by real-estate Web site Zillow.com.

In contrast with the 12 million home borrowers estimated to be under water, 64 million have equity in their homes. These include 24 million households who own their homes free and clear, and 40 million whose homes remain worth more than is owed on them.

Charleston Stats

Charleston housing market continues to be off about 35% on number of sales but only about 5% in sales price. The rest of the year will be interesting.