🚨 Time Out: Just heard from a builder friend—he's trying to get out of a couple of downtown projects. They’re gutted and approved, ready to go. Where are my downtown buyers at?

🌟Shout Out: I recently had a call with Ted Williams, a marketing veteran who just launched his own newsletter, Tiny Money. It’s really good—so good that I called him to ask for some advice.

“What do you think of my newsletter’s name?” I asked.

Ted replied, “Well, it’s kind of nerdy and a bit of a mouthful.”

🤷🏼‍♂️

He then spent the next hour giving me rock-solid advice. Really great guy.

🍔 Confession time: I’ve been craving a Big Mac for weeks. I almost never do fast food, but this craving wouldn’t quit. Finally, Mina got fed up and was like, “Just go get the damn Big Mac!” So I did. And I went big—a Big Mac and a Double Quarter Pounder. Zero regrets. Should've done it sooner!

The Scoop
Construction Deliveries into 2025

Charleston’s apartment market has exploded, adding 30% more units since 2020. Demand’s stayed strong, but all that new supply pushed up vacancy rates slightly earlier this year. Fast-forward to Q3 2024, and demand’s finally catching up, even outpacing new supply for the first time in two years. The pace of new builds is slowing down, thanks to high interest rates making construction loans a nightmare. Translation: fewer new apartments hitting the rental market in late 2025.

Here’s the breakdown:

- I-26 corridor- Big suburban units.

- Downtown- Luxury mid-rises, especially where old industrial zones are turning upscale. Ranging from 43 townhomes in Harleston Village to 331 Low Rise apartments on the Upper Peninsula.

- Summerville/Goose Creek: Developers are all in—tons of land and jobs are driving 1,800 new units in the last year alone, and people are renting them up.

Then there’s Mount Pleasant. They’ve kept a strict no-new-apartments rule going for seven years straight, so rents keep climbing due to the limited supply.

Bottom line: fewer new projects in the pipeline should mean tighter supply and maybe higher rents across the board.

Click here for a more detailed list of upcoming developments

Paul’s Market Journal

Rates go up

Mortgage rates just hit 7%, the highest since summer, even after the Fed cut rates. A buyer on a $3,000 budget has lost $33,250 in purchasing power over the last six weeks. This spike is tied to strong economic data and rising bond yields. Bummer. Looks like the best rate of the year was a 6.08% on the week of September 26

Fast Tip

Pop in Low Priced STRs Downtown

I’ve noticed a pop in sub $1.5million listings of STRs in Downtown Charleston. There are currently 4 on the market right now, 2 of them being under $1 million. If STR is in your wheelhouse, I’d take a deeper look at these opportunities. I think it’s a telling time in the market- usually these get scooped up very quickly.

Elliot’s Exclusive List

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LP Corner

(coming soon)