Tuesday, Feb. 03, 2009

Columbia home-price appreciation among nation's best in '08

Now for the good news: Columbia-area home prices continue to be one of the bright spots in a darkening economic picture.

Columbia was one of 21 markets nationwide that had appreciation or less than 1 percent decline in median price, according to a new report.

Zillow.com, a Web site that keeps real estate statistics for markets throughout the country, compared data for 161 metropolitan areas last year. South Carolina had four communities in the top 21 - more than any other state.

Median price was $127,866 for the Columbia Metropolitan statistical area, the report said. That’s down less than .8 percent from 2007 and up 3.2 percent from five years ago before the real estate boom came to South Carolina.

Nationwide, home prices fell 11.6 percent for the year.

In South Carolina, the Anderson area ranked sixth in country with a 3.1 percent increase in median price. Sumter was eighth with a 2 percent increase. The Greenville area was 12th, with a .2 percent increase and Columbia came in 21st.

Charleston fared worst, ranking 66 with a 6.1 percent decline. Spartanburg was 29th with a 2.3 percent decrease.

And the Charlotte area, which includes Rock Hill, was 45th with a 3.7 percent decline.

Of 15 towns around the Columbia area, Elgin fared best, with an 8.7 percent increase in median value last year, the report said. Pelion had the worst showing, with a 19.1 percent decline.

But despite the good news there are distress signals. In the past 12 months, nearly 20 percent of homes sold for a loss, compared to 11 percent for the past five years.

And foreclosure transactions made up about 13 percent of all sales, compared to 8.3 percent for the past five years.

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