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Charleston County, South Carolina

Single-family vs. condo trends, market pressure signals, and 5-year price history. Source: Redfin.

Median Sale Price
$675,000
—
Active Inventory
2,836
Days on Market
69 days
Price Drops
23.9%

Single-Family vs. Condo

Source: Redfin (property-type breakdown)
Single-Family Median
$738,750
+4.0% YoY
Condo / Co-op Median
$429,900
+7.5% YoY
SFR vs. Condo YoY Gap
-3.4%
condos outperforming SFR
DOM: SFR vs. Condo
70d / 55d
SFR / Condo

Buyer vs. Seller Market Indicators

Latest month — Redfin
Months of Supply
3.9 mo
Balanced

Inventory ÷ monthly sales. Below 3 = strong seller market; 3-6 balanced; above 6 = buyer market.

Sale-to-List Ratio
97.6%
At asking

Median closing price ÷ original list price. Above 100% = homes routinely closing above asking.

% Sold Above List
10%
Buyer-favorable

Share of closed sales priced above asking. The single cleanest read on bidder competition.

What does your sqft target cost in Charleston County, South Carolina?

$339/sqft median (Redfin)
+$0 adj
+$0 adj
optional
Estimated price
$678,816
Near median (+1% vs median)
Region median
$675,000
all homes
Price-tier reverse lookup — what sqft does each price band buy?
$600,000
≈ 1,768 sqft
$1,200,000
≈ 3,536 sqft
$2,000,000
≈ 5,893 sqft
$5,000,000
≈ 14,732 sqft

Estimate = (median $/sqft × your sqft) + bed/bath/lot adjustments. Bed and bath adjustments use Appraisal Institute / Fannie Mae standard rules of thumb (~$15K/extra bedroom, ~$20K/extra bathroom vs. a 3bd/2ba baseline; half-bath = half adj). Lot premium is a $1.50/sqft heuristic beyond a 6,000 sqft baseline — accuracy varies sharply by urban infill vs. acreage market. Quality, condition, year built, and HOA are not modeled here. For a deeper county-level hedonic AVM, see AVM Lite.

Rent + invest vs. buy + own — backtested

15-yr rolling history · S&P 500
Property type:
Upfront capital committed (both paths): $155K = 20% down + 3% closing on a $675K home
BUY + OWN
Median ending wealth $593K $362K real
Net gain on $155K upfront: $437K
Range: $593K → $593K
Wealth = home value (appreciated at 3%/yr) − remaining mortgage − 6% selling cost. Gain = wealth − upfront. Leveraged appreciation on full $675K asset comes from the 20% down.
RENT + INVEST
Median ending portfolio $1.79M $1.31M real
Net gain on $665K contributed: $1.12M
Range: $844K → $4.46M
Same upfront cash + each year's (own − rent) surplus invested in S&P 500 at actual annual returns. Median renter contributed $665K total.
Median wealth delta: $1.19M in favor of RENT + INVEST
What if you'd started in a recent year? (most-recent 15yr window: 2011–2025)
WindowBuy wealthBuy gainRent wealthRent gainWealth delta
2011–2025$593K$437K$2.58M$1.92M$1.99M rent
2010–2024$593K$437K$2.63M$1.97M$2.04M rent
2009–2023$593K$437K$2.50M$1.84M$1.91M rent
2008–2022$593K$437K$1.83M$1.16M$1.23M rent
2007–2021$593K$437K$2.37M$1.71M$1.78M rent
2006–2020$593K$437K$2.02M$1.36M$1.43M rent
2005–2019$593K$437K$1.82M$1.16M$1.23M rent
2004–2018$593K$437K$1.50M$837K$909K rent

Educational tool, not investment or real-estate advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Backtests use actual annual total returns including dividends from S&P 500 (Damodaran (NYU Stern) annual total return (with dividends), 1957-present.).

Buyer model: 30-yr fixed mortgage, P&I + property tax + insurance + maintenance (1% of value/yr) + HOA. Selling cost = 6%. Investor model: down payment + annual cashflow surplus invested in the chosen index at that calendar year's actual return.

Tax model: pre-tax comparison. Toggle "after-tax mode" to apply MID, SALT, LTCG, and the Sec 121 capital-gains exclusion.

This calculator does not adjust for: PMI (assumed 20%+ down), differential transaction costs by state, lifestyle factors (commute, schools, kids), illiquidity / forced-sale risk, or insurance availability constraints (e.g., FL/CA wildfire). Consult a fiduciary advisor and tax professional before acting on any of this.

Market Pressure Signals

Derived from Redfin trend
Inventory vs. Long-Term Avg
+33.8%
surplus — buyer leverage
DOM vs. 24-Mo Avg
-2.5%
currently 69 days
Long-Term Avg Inventory
2,120
Long-Term Avg DOM
71 days

Mortgage & Price Stress

State HPI + national delinquency
State HPI YoY
+3.7%
positive — appreciating
State HPI vs. Peak
0.0%
at or near peak peak 2025-10-01
National Mortgage Delinquency
1.78%
benchmark — 2025-10-01 county-grain delinquency requires paid data

State-grain HPI YoY + drawdown from peak is the cleanest free price-stress proxy. The national delinquency rate gives the macro mortgage-stress backdrop. True county-level mortgage delinquency lives in paid datasets (MBA NDS, CoreLogic LP).

Value Ratios

Median home price ÷ county median income
Value / Income
8.0×
severely overvalued
Median Household Income
$84,320
Census ACS B19013

Historically affordable markets sit at 3–4× income; over 5× is stretched, over 6× is severely overvalued. Lower ratios point to bargain opportunities.

Housing Stock & Owners

Census ACS 5-year (B19013, B01003, B25002, B25003, B25034, B25007)
Population
414,711
total residents
Total Housing Units
206,299
all units, occupied + vacant
Vacancy Rate
14.9%
elevated
Homeownership Rate
63.5%
of occupied units owner-occupied
Boomer Owners (65+)
20.6%
of homeowner households
Millennial / Gen-X Owners (35-54)
7.6%
of homeowner households
Pre-1949 Housing Stock
8.7%
structures built before 1949

When boomer-owner share is high, expect more inventory hitting the market over the next decade as homes transition. High vacancy + high old-stock often signals deferred-maintenance markets where buyers can negotiate.

Who's Moving In (Census ACS)

Source: Census ACS B07001 (5-year)
Inbound Movers (1 yr)
33,694
8.22% of pop. — moved here from outside the county
From Other States
18,214
4.44% of pop. — interstate inbound
From Abroad
3,066
moved into the county from outside the U.S.
Same House 1 Year Ago
84%
stable residents

Census ACS asks where people lived 1 year ago, so this counts inbound movers but does not show outbound — true net migration would require IRS SOI parsing.

Trends

Up to 5 years of monthly data

Median Sale Price

Trailing 12 months

Active Inventory

Trailing 12 months

Days on Market

Trailing 12 months

Looking for state-level data? See South Carolina statewide stats →

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