<h3>By Everett Ballenger</h3>
This month we will take a snapshot of the May 2016 real estate market. We would not normally just look at one month for a year-on-year review, but May is normally a good indicator of how the market will perform   through the busy spring selling season.

One should take into account that for homes to close in May, the contracts were very likely written in March and April. So again decent real estate sales in May really indicates how the first 40 percent of the year has performed.

Over the last two years the housing market has been up on the year before (other than October 2015), which was down a little on 2014. Here we are only looking at the five areas we normally cover, Beaufort, Mossy Oaks, Port Royal, Burton and Lady’s Island.

[caption id="attachment_29417" align="aligncenter" width="1816"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Screen-Shot-2016-08-01-at-10.13.26-PM.png" rel="attachment wp-att-29417"><img class="size-full wp-image-29417" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Screen-Shot-2016-08-01-at-10.13.26-PM.png" alt="Three Year Review of the Month of May" width="1816" height="392" /></a> Three Year Review of the Month of May[/caption]

<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/real.estate.trends.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-29418"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-29418" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/real.estate.trends.jpg" alt="real.estate.trends" width="636" height="503" /></a>

Certainly May 2016 showed some healthy gains across the board. Actual units’ sales were up close to an impressive 14 percent.

Prices did show some increase over 2015. This is encouraging to see. Some “hot” metropolitan areas have seen some significant rises in home values, and Northern Beaufort has lagged behind this appreciation trend.

Land values are still down, especially in some gated communities, but if the single-family home market remains strong, it can only be a matter of time before buildable lots start to attract attention once more.

As of May 15, there were 397 active single-family homes for sale in our five main areas, and 192 pending sales with a listing volume of $51,087,473.

One would have to say that May 2016 was a pretty good month overall, and bodes well that the real estate market remain strong throughout the rest of the year.

<i>Everett Ballenger is the owner of B.I.C. Ballenger Realty and former president of the Beaufort County Associations of Realtors.</i>