LOCAL REAL ESTATE IS HOT!

This summer is hot – for local real estate. Signs that the real estate industry is rebounding in the Lowcountry are easy to find in greater Bluffton.

The total number of residential real estate sales is up 11 percent in 2011 (January through July), compared to the same period last year. This year, there have been 802 sales of homes, villas and home sites versus 717 sales in the first seven months of 2010.

Of all the Bluffton neighborhoods tracked by the Hilton Head Area Multiple Listing Service, Rose Hill Plantation saw the biggest jump in sales – 106 percent, from 16 to 33 properties – in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period in 2010. The low homeowner fees compared to other gated communities, the community’s reopened golf course and the new tennis center slated to open September 1, are driving sales. The tennis center is a private project so it has no impact on homeowners association fees. The annual owner’s fee in Rose Hill is $1,700 plus a one-time transfer fee of $1,310, paid by the buyer.

Hampton Hall, Palmetto Bluff, Berkeley Hall, Moss Creek, Belfair, Oldfield and other private communities on the mainland also saw healthy increases in the number of sales in the first seven months of this year. Sales in non-gated communities in Bluffton also rose 10 percent from January through the end of July this year, compared to the same period last year, according to figures compiled using data from the Hilton Head Island Multiple Listing Service.

Statistics show the Hilton Head Island-area real estate market, including greater Bluffton, is having its best year of the last five years. Historically, the Hilton Head Island area, including greater Bluffton, has been one of the last to slip into recession and one of the first to come out of it.

For the first six months of this year, the greater Hilton Head area was the best performing in the state for the number of homes and villas sold, the South Carolina Realtors Association reported in July.

The health of an area’s real estate industry can be measured on two axes: number of sales and prices. In greater Bluffton, prices also are on the rise. Median prices for homes and villas climbed in the three month period from May to July, compared to prices in February to April. Home prices gained 11 percent and the median price of villas rose 13 percent.