BY JIM PARKER
The Post and Courier
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2007 8:53 AM
Outlook lookout
Local investor Brad Rundbaken doesn't mince words, especially in talking about local real estate conditions.
"As many of you know, I have been outspoken about certain area home prices being too high in this current market," Rundbaken said in his latest Charleston Market Report.
"This 100-plus-year graph by Robert Shiller should put this argument to rest," he said. "Many of the sellers in denial right now need to take a hard look at this graph."
CLICK HERE FOR THE GRAPH
Shiller, a Yale economist, created a national housing price index back to 1890 that factors out inflation. By that gauge, a $100,000 home in 1890 would have been worth $66,000 in 1920 and $199,000 today - showing the market's long-term ups and downs.
On the local level, Rundbaken compared inventories for homes valued at $600,000 or more with those at less than $600,000 in the Charleston area. Lower priced homes bottomed at 1.78 months of inventory in June 2005 and rose to 6.67 months in November 2006. Higher-priced homes, meanwhile, soared from 4.63 months in July 2005 to 24.95 months, or more than two years worth, in November.
Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or at jparker@postandcourier.com.
