More homes changed hands in the Charleston area in September than a year earlier, but prices barely moved.
Buyers closed on 1,538 homes last month, up 9.5% from September 2025, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors’ monthly report, which draws on Charleston Trident Multiple Listing Service data and is current as of Oct. 9. The median sales price rose 0.7% to $425,000.
Pending sales, or homes under contract, rose 7.9% to 1,400. Homes took longer to sell, spending an average of 55 days on the market, up from 51 a year earlier. Sellers received 95.6% of their original list price on average.
There were 5,590 homes for sale at the end of the month, nearly the same as a year earlier. That equals 3.6 months of supply, down from 3.8 months, the report said.
Through the first nine months of the year, closed sales are up 5.5% to 14,434, and the median price is up 2.3% to $435,000.
Results varied by county. In Charleston County, the median price of a single-family detached home rose 1.6% to $715,000 in September. Berkeley County’s single-family median rose 4.9% to $430,000, and single-family closed sales there jumped 19.7%. In Dorchester County, the single-family median fell 2% to $392,000, and the number of single-family homes for sale rose 14.1%.
Affordability slipped. The association’s housing affordability index, which measures median household income against what it takes to qualify for the median-priced home at current interest rates, fell to 75 from 80 a year earlier. A lower number means homes are less affordable.
Borrowing has since gotten more expensive. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point on Sept. 16, its first increase since July 2023, according to the Fed. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.4% for the week of Oct. 15, up from 6.27% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.
