O the Month of May, the Merry Month of May

May is here and Spoleto is back in Charleston! Spoleto will run from May 25 through June 13. COVID protocols are in place. Piccolo Spoleto has moved most events outdoors. The Sea Island farmers market and the Marion Square farmers market are back every Saturday morning. Swingin' Saturdays with Joe Clarke Big Band come to the Forte Jazz Lounge every first Saturday. There's also live music at Firefly Distillery each Saturday. Here is your May schedule of events:

30-2: Lowcountry Strawberry Festival, Boone Hall

1: First Saturday Stroll - Self-guided visit to Charleston | Low Country Southern Rock @ Charleston Music Hall

4-9: Riverdogs Baseball

7: Charlton Singleton & Friends: The Sizzling 70s - Tribute to Music from the 1970s - Outdoor concert @ The Bend, N. Charleston

8: Annual sheep shearing @ Middleton Place | A Tribute to Lilith Fair @ Charleston Music Hall

10: Virtual Event: The Carole King Musical @ Charleston Gaillard Center

13: Blackberry Smoke with Special Guest JB Strauss - Outdoor Concert @ The Bend, N. Charleston

14: Yacht Rock Revue - Outdoor Concert @ The Bend, N. Charleston

17-23: PGA Championship @ The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

20: Third Thursday Summerville - Summerville in Art

21: Hawaiian Luau and Bowl Jam SK8, Charleston Skate Park

22: Historic Landscape and Lenhardt Garden Walks, Drayton Hall

23: Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series @ James Island County Park

27: The Indigo Girls - Outdoor Concert @ The Bend, N. Charleston

28: Friends of the Library Big Book Sale, Omar Shrine Auditorium Patriots Point

29: Holy City Farmers Market @ Firefly Distillery

31: Memorial Day

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Market Update

The Charleston Real Estate Market is still raging on with very low inventory and multiple offers with properties selling for much more than list price, and there is a bunch of cash flying around. Through Quarter 1 of 2021, we are up 26% over the same 2020 period in terms of transactions. Of course 2020 was ultimately a record year by quite a bit in terms of transactions for Charleston, but Quarter 1 of 2020 was a bit muffled by the pandemic. Real estate hit another gear in May 2020 and it continued all the way to the end of the year. Median sales price in Quarter 1 in 2021 is up by 14.5% over the same 2020 period. Median sales price is up to $335k now in Charleston. This crazy sellers market is due in large part to the very low mortgage rates. This led to high demand and eventually to extremely low inventory. This has actually now become a problem for many sellers. They are very excited about selling but they don't want to become a buyer. So this has caused inventory to hit unforeseeable low levels. We very steadily had about 5,000 homes for sale on any given day between 2015-2019; that has decreased throughout 2020 until now we have only about 1,400 active listings. It's not like you can sell and move to another city. These dynamics are true in most American cities right now because of the mortgage rates.