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<p><strong>Chamber to celebrate Dataw</strong></p>
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<p>The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the grand re-opening of Dataw Island's two championship golf courses with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 17.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Dataw Island is excited to announce the official grand re-opening of the Arthur Hills Morgan River course and the Tom Fazio Cotton Dike course. The club has just completed a more than $1 million renovation of the island's cart paths that weave among the 36 golf holes, as well as walking paths that line the island's streets.&nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>USCB to host career fair&nbsp;</strong></p>
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<p>The USCB Career and Graduate School Fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 5 on the Bluffton Campus. Registration will close Jan. 19.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>“Employers will have the opportunity to compare their needs with the skillsets of our students and alumni,” says Leta Salazar, director of career services at USCB. “For their part, students will find a wide range of internships and part-time and full-time job opportunities at the fair.”</p>
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<p>Career Services is part of a network of support services provided by the university’s Department of Student Development. Career-service professionals are available to assist USCB students in resolving a wide variety of career-related issues and assisting employers by conducting career fairs twice a year and providing individualized campus recruiting and internship development.</p>
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<p>Employers may register for a booth at the Career and Graduate School Fair by contacting Leta Salazar at 843-208-8263 or writing careerservices@uscb.edu.</p>
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<p><strong>Beaufort-Jasper Realtors report&nbsp;</strong><strong>for December</strong></p>
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<p>Home prices were consistently up again in most markets in 2018 but at reduced levels compared to recent years, according to the Beaufort-Jasper County Realtors’ December market report.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>High demand for few homes for sale fueled price increases, but evidence is mounting that inventory will finally improve in 2019. This may apply some downward pressure on prices for beleaguered home buyers. A fourth interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in 2018 spooked the stock market to close out the year. The Fed has indicated that the number of rate increases in 2019 will be halved, which may be of little comfort to an already compressed consumer.</p>
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<p>New Listings were up 12.7 percent to 160. Pending Sales increased 10.9 percent to 143, the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains. Inventory grew 23.3 percent to 1,095 units.</p>
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<p>Prices moved higher as Median Sales Price was up 5.2 percent to $252,500. Days on Market increased 59.7 percent to 99 days. Months Supply of Inventory was up 14.0 percent to 5.7 months, indicating that supply increased relative to demand.</p>
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<p>Unemployment rates remained remarkably low again in 2018, and wages continued to improve for many U.S. households. It is generally good for all parties involved in real estate transactions when wages grow, but the percentage of increase, on average, has not kept pace with home price increases. This created an affordability crux in the second half of 2018. Housing affordability will remain an important storyline in 2019.<br></p>
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