2015 Collins Group Realty State of the Market Report 1 | Page 4

28 Audubon Pond Road - Sea Pines Plantation

state of the
hilton head island
market
2015 - A YEAR OF QUIET CONFIDENCE
by

Chip Collins, Owner & Broker-in-Charge

In our State of the Market report last year, we
predicted that 2015 would bring about a strong
increase in market performance, suggesting that it
would be an important recovery year for sales on
Hilton Head Island. And while the year didn’t
produce record sales, per se, 2015 most certainly lived
up to our expectation of growth with a 10% increase
in unit sales (1,785) and a 6% increase in closed dollar
volume ($769MM)!
We further expected villa sales to increase sharply,
thinking that the growing vacation-visitor-base from
over the past 5 years would be compelled by the many
substantial infrastructure changes/updates taking
place across the market-area. Accordingly, it’s exciting
to report that, in fact, villa sales in 2015 outpaced the
overall market with a significant 15% increase in
closings over 2014.
Speaking of vacationing on HHI, it’s interesting to
note that the peak selling months for real estate were
March, June, July and August, while January, March
and April stood out as the top times for new listings

4

State of the Market

to hit the market. While the island-market is clearly
a year-round marketplace, the pure volume of visitors
during the Summer months significantly drives buyer
activity.
With the wide variety of buyer interests across the
Island, the price-points of homes sold on the Island
also vary greatly, with last year’s sales ranging from
under $200,000 to over $4MM. The bulk of the
market activity took place between $250,000-$500,000
(42%), with the $500,