Charleston Tri-County Market Recap: Week of June 8 to 14, 2026

The single biggest factor in how much a Charleston-area home sold for last week was not the interest rate, the season, or even the neighborhood. It was whether the seller priced it right on the first day the home hit the market. The numbers from June 8 to 14 make that case about as cleanly as a week of data ever does, and the rest of this recap is going to show you exactly how.

Across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties last week, 323 homes closed, 343 went under contract, and 4,669 sat active on the market. The median sale price was $499,000, the typical home took 18 days to go under contract, and homes sold at 99.0% of their most recent asking price and 97.4% of their very first asking price. This recap is built from our weekly tri-county MLS analysis. One note before we go further: pre-owned homes made up roughly 77 to 80 percent of activity at every stage, and new-construction figures are less reliable because builder pricing and incentives do not always show up in the data. So the story below leans on the pre-owned numbers. If you are weighing a new build against an existing home, that is a separate conversation worth having, and our guide on new construction versus resale in Charleston is a good place to start.

What DOM, SP:LP, and SP:OP Actually Mean

Three numbers do most of the work in any honest market read. Here is what each one means in plain English, with the dollars spelled out.

Days on Market (DOM) is how long a home sat from the day it was listed to the day it went under contract. Last week the median was 18 days. A home that goes under contract in 4 days and a home that takes 77 days are telling you two completely different stories, even if they sell for the same price.

Sold-to-List ratio (SP:LP) compares the final sale price to the most recent asking price. If a home was listed at $500,000 and sold for $495,000, that is 99% SP:LP, or about $5,000 under the last number on the sign. Last week's median was 99.0%, which means most homes sold very close to whatever they were asking at the end.

Sold-to-Original ratio (SP:OP) compares the final sale price to the first asking price, the number the seller started with before any cuts. Say a home first listed at $525,000, dropped to $500,000 a month later, then sold for $495,000. That is about 94% of the original price, roughly $30,000 under where the seller began. Last week's median was 97.4%.

Here is the part most people miss. The gap between SP:LP and SP:OP, read alongside days on market, is the whole story of whether a home was priced right from day one. When those two ratios sit close together and DOM is low, the seller nailed the price. When SP:OP is well below SP:LP and DOM is high, that home chased the market down. It eventually sold near its final ask, but only after the seller gave up real money getting there.

The Priced-Right Versus Priced-High Story

Last week split the closings into two clear camps, and the difference between them is worth real dollars.

About 64% of homes that closed never cut their price at all. They sold in about 7 days at roughly 99.5% of their original asking price. On a $499,000 home, 99.5% is about $496,500, basically full freight, gone in a week.

The other 36% cut their price before they found a buyer. Those homes sat about 77 days and sold for about 94% of their original price, with a median cut near 3.8%. On that same $499,000 home, 94% is about $469,000. That is roughly $30,000 below where the seller started, and about $27,000 less than the homes that priced right out of the gate collected. Same house, same week, two very different outcomes, and the only variable was the opening number.

The DOM ladder makes it even plainer. The further under their original price homes sold, the longer they took to do it:

• Sold at or above original price: about 4 days
• Sold within 3% of original: about 15 days
• Sold 3% to 7% under original: about 39 days
• Sold 7% or more under original: about 77 days

The homes still going under contract last week told the same story from the other direction. Homes that priced right went pending in about 8 days. The ones that ended up needing a cut waited about 63 days. Time on market is not a neutral thing that just happens to a listing. It is usually a price signal showing up in slow motion.

By Price Bracket: Where the Money Moves and Where It Negotiates

Not every price point behaves the same way. Here is how each bracket closed last week, with the ratios translated into dollars.

Under $300,000 (14% of sales). These homes held 100% of their most recent list price but took about 23 days, and sold at 96.7% of original. They hold their final number but move slower, partly because there are simply fewer of them at this price in the tri-county.

$300,000 to $499,000 (37%, the busiest bracket). Sold at 99.8% of last list and 98.2% of original, in about 18 days. This is the heart of the market and it is moving at a steady, healthy pace.

$500,000 to $749,000 (22%, the fastest bracket). Sold at 99.2% of last list and 98.3% of original, in about 9 days. On a $600,000 home, 98.3% of the original ask is about $589,800, roughly $10,000 of give, and it happened in nine days. A well-priced home in this range does not last. If this is your price point as a buyer, you need to be ready before you start looking.

$750,000 to $999,000 (10%). Sold at 98.3% of last list and 97.7% of original, in about 19 days.

$1,000,000 and up (18%). Sold at 96.8% of last list and 95.6% of original, in about 22 days. This bracket had the widest gap between asking and final price, and that gap is real negotiating room. Spell it out: a home that first listed at $1,500,000 and closed at 95.6% of that came in around $1,434,000, a $66,000 difference. At the top of the market, the original number and the final number are often two very different things.

By Area and County: Fast Markets, Slow Markets, and What Each Side Should Do

The tri-county is not one market. It is dozens of them, and last week the spread between the fastest and slowest was wide.

County level

Charleston County posted 162 sales at a $704,470 median, selling at 98.4% of last list and 97.2% of original in about 15 days. It is the priciest of the three and one of the fastest. Berkeley County had 96 sales at a $413,710 median, holding 100% of last list and 98.4% of original, but taking about 28 days, the longest of the three. That extra time on market is breathing room, and it means a little more negotiating space for buyers there. Dorchester County logged 65 sales at a $387,500 median, 99.4% of last list and 97.4% of original, in about 19 days, and remains the best value of the three.

Area level

Among areas with at least 8 closings last week, the speed gap was striking:

• James Island: median around $706,000, 98.1% of original, about 8 days.
• Johns Island: median around $672,500, 99.7% of original, about 9.5 days.
• Downtown and the peninsula: median around $1,232,500, 95.9% of original, about 9.5 days. High price, but real negotiation room baked into that original-to-final gap.
• West Ashley: median around $560,000, 99.2% of original, about 12 days.
• North Charleston: median around $329,500, 97.9% of original, about 12 days. Value and speed in the same package.
• Summerville and Ridgeville: median around $415,500, 97.4% of original, about 17 days.
• Mount Pleasant south of the IOP Connector: median around $1,042,500, 95.7% of original, about 20.5 days. A premium tier with more negotiation room than the islands.
• The Goose Creek and Moncks Corner corridor: medians in the low-to-mid $300,000s, selling around 96 to 97.5% of original, in about 42 to 43 days. The slowest movers in the region, which means the strongest buyer leverage.

If you are comparing close-in Charleston options against each other, the speed and pricing differences above are exactly why we built a side-by-side breakdown of Mount Pleasant versus West Ashley versus James Island versus Johns Island.

What This Means If You Are Selling

Price to the comparable sales from day one. That is the entire lesson of last week in one sentence. The homes that did it sold in about a week at nearly their full original price. The homes that started high and chased the market down sat 77 days and gave up real money doing it. A price cut after your listing has already gone stale almost always costs you more than pricing right would have in the first place.

It is also worth knowing what buyers actually rewarded last week. Three-bedroom homes led with 123 sales and four-bedrooms were right behind at 114. About 60% of sold homes had the primary bedroom on the main level. Two-story homes outsold one-story homes 176 to 122. And about 65% of what sold sat inside an HOA community. None of that means you should renovate your house to match a trend. It means that when a home checks the boxes buyers are already looking for, pricing it correctly gets you paid fast.

One more signal for sellers. Last week 44 homes came off the market without selling, after a median of about 64 days listed and a median list price around $525,000, most of them in Charleston and Berkeley counties. Here is the honest read on those: a home that sits and then comes off the market almost never has a bad-house problem. It usually has a pricing problem or a marketing problem, and both of those are fixable. If your listing has gone quiet, start with a real look at the number using our home valuation tool, and make sure the person handling it is doing the job right. Our guide on how to pick the right agent walks through what that should actually look like. When you are ready to talk strategy, the sellers page lays out how we approach it.

What This Means If You Are Buying

Speed is wildly uneven right now, so your strategy has to match the price point and the place. In the $500,000 to $749,000 range, homes went under contract in about 9 days. If that is your budget, you need your financing and your agent lined up before you tour your first house, because hesitation costs you the home. Our buyers page covers how to get into that ready position.

On the other side, there is genuine room in several pockets of the market. Berkeley County averaged 28 days on market, and the Goose Creek and Moncks Corner corridor ran 42 to 43 days. Slower markets are where patient, well-represented buyers do their best work.

And do not assume the asking price is the price, especially above a million dollars. That bracket sold at 95.6% of its original list last week, and downtown and premium Mount Pleasant tiers showed similar room. The gap between a home's first number and its final number is your map. A home that has already taken a cut and crossed the 60-day mark is often a very different negotiation than a fresh listing that priced right and is about to move.

The Bottom Line on Last Week

The number that matters is not the list price. It is what the market will actually pay, and last week the market was about as clear as it gets: it rewarded sellers who started at the right number and made everyone else pay for the difference in time and dollars. Whether you are thinking about selling and want an honest read on where to start, or buying and want to know where the real room is, that is the conversation worth having before you make a move.

If you want to know what your home would realistically sell for in this market, start with our home valuation tool, then call or email me and we will talk through your specific situation. No pressure, no pitch, just a straight answer.

Brett Kelley, The TREAT Team at SCSOLD
843.896.6166
[email protected]
findhomessc.com

Brett Kelley is the Owner and Team Leader of The TREAT Team at SCSOLD. Licensed in South Carolina, #96167. Serving Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties.