South Carolina's Coast, Lakes, and Inland Communities Thrive

The South Carolina Coast

Director of Sales and Marketing Laura McCarthy says, “Dataw Island has seen an incredible demand for homes over the last couple years, creating record-setting sales. Our inventory has gone from 90+ homes for sale to the single digits with this increased demand. Interestingly, the number of “new listings” to come onto the market has not decreased; our low inventory is instead a product of how many prospective members desire to purchase here. We saw 125 home sales in 2021, and 122 in 2020, which was by far our busiest sales year to date. Both 2020 and 2021 had double the number of home sales than in years prior, and lot sales more than quintupled. These new members have brought fresh new perspectives and an energy that is palpable.

“It’s hard to attribute this phenomenon to any one factor, as it seems to be more a confluence of situations that have contributed to the heightened sales climate. The pandemic inspired more ‘late baby boomers’ to retire at an earlier age than anyone could have predicted. And many others realized that working remotely is viable and chose to move sooner than later to their ideal destinations. We also offer a membership that embraces multi-generational households, which have increased dramatically nationwide in recent years and here on Dataw Island.

“Without a crystal ball, it’s impossible to pre- dict how long this will last, but I expect the market to cool nationally a little slower than it will here. The coastal Lowcountry of South Carolina has grown in popularity as both a retirement and everyday living destination. Even with as desirable a destination as we are, prices have traditionally remained much lower than in larger cities in the Northeast and West, where many buyers are coming from.”

Lake Living in South Carolina

At Keowee Key in Salem, SC, sales continued to increase year over year. In 2021, lot sales were 40% higher than previous years. The number of homes built increased by 30%. Christine DeVlaming, Director of Marketing at Keowee Key says, “We were thrilled with our lot sales. Additionally, many homeowners were renovating which brought some of our older homes up to date, which was always a goal. We had a 30% increase in home renovations in 2020 and a 25% increase in 2021 compared to 2019.”

DeVlaming offers an interesting perspective on why sales have increased so rapidly. “The first sales trend was based on late retirees finally deciding to move very fast due to COVID-19 concerns (let’s get out of here). In the next wave, people leaving large cities during COVID-19 were able to sell their homes relatively quickly as the millennials filled their spots for work. In these first two cases, many had nice sums of money from their home sales to put more cash on their next home, driving up prices. Third, folks being able to work from home and big box companies shutting down some of the main offices caused a lot more moves. The next sales trend is based on people inheriting money during COVID-19 when family members have passed on. So there is now additional cash inhand. People are buying, including renovations. This also produced a great deal of inflation and now the interest rates will begin to go up. We expect to see continued fast sales through 2022, and it really depends on the economy if this will continue into 2023.”

Inland South Carolina Sees Strong Sales

Aiken, SC, has been increasing in popularity among retirees for many years, and Woodside has been leading the charge. Woodside has experienced phenomenal sales as well. Since September of 2020, they had over 300 sales of existing homes, new homes, and homesites totaling over $100,000,000, according to Diana Peters, President of Woodside Communities. And that was only by the developer’s team and does not include all of the sales transactions at Woodside. Peters says, “The market was already strengthening when COVID-19 shut everything down in 2020. Other than that blip, our sales have experienced a steady incline. We don’t see anything to indicate any market changes in the near term. Our traffic and demand for property remain very strong.”