SOUTH CAROLINA FALL 2009 HOUSING MARKET QUARTERLY REPORT

The Center for Real Estate in the Moore School of Business at the University of South
Carolina’s Moore School of Business is excited to introduce its newest publication:
South Carolina Housing Market Report.
This publication provides on-going objective economic analyses focused exclusively on the
home building and real estate industries in South Carolina.
The focus of this publication will be on current national- and state-level economic
conditions, how these conditions affect the housing industry both nationally and in South
Carolina, and what current and historical conditions imply about the outlook for the South
Carolina housing industry.
South Carolina Fall 2009
Housing Market Quarterly Report
Written by Joseph C. Von Nessen, Ph.D., // Division of Research, Moore School // Contact: Joey.VonNessen@moore.sc.edu
1.
South Carolina
Housing Market Quarterly Report
The recession is most likely over. Most economic indicators suggest
that we are now in a period of economic growth.
The banking industry is just beginning to absorb the losses from
defaulting commercial real estate loans, which will make future
loans of all kinds harder to acquire. Thus, despite the fact that the
residential real estate market is showing signs of recovery, the
recovery will be slow because of the increased difficulty for the
home-building industry to obtain loans.
The high U.S. and South Carolina unemployment rate is expected
to persist for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010. Nevertheless,
this is not an indication of a deteriorating overall economy. High
unemployment generally lingers through the initial stages of
economic recovery and is usually one of the last signs of recovery
from a recession.
Additional foreclosures and increased housing vacancy rates
are likely to accompany high unemployment. This will lead to
additional inventory and reduced housing prices at the national
level. South Carolina, however, has experienced house price
appreciation throughout 2009, an increase in permit activity, and
only small increases in foreclosure rates. These facts suggest not
only that South Carolina is a relatively stable housing market,
but also that much of the excess inventory has been eliminated.
In turn, South Carolina will be spared from some of the national
consequences of additional foreclosures.

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PENNY BOLING

PRESIDENT