Anderson, S.C., home market suffers from unemployment

— -- A first glance at the housing market in Anderson, S.C., might be a bit misleading: Home sales seem to have finally hit bottom; prices have started to slightly increase.

But the unemployment rate in Anderson County hit 13.2% in June, higher than the national average.

What's more, many people who still have jobs are working shorter hours and earning less, says Doug Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business.

That's usually trouble for the real estate market.

Home sales dropped 10.3% in June, compared with the same month in 2008, and home prices were down 20%.

From 2005 to 2007, everything was different. Home sales surged as the Anderson area attracted retirees and vacation-home buyers lured by a moderate climate and change of seasons.

The region is also close to Lake Hartwell and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"Those three years were phenomenal," says John Crosson, a member of the Western Upstate Association of Realtors' board of directors. "I don't know that I'll see it that good again in my lifetime."

After 2007, the housing market tanked. Sales of lake homes have really been clobbered, Crosson says. In the past, many people moved from Florida. But that has changed, as many potential buyers are unable to sell their homes in Florida's battered market. Even if Anderson home sales see an upward trend, it will be slow because of the economic downturn, Crosson says.

Traditionally, Anderson has been part of the textile apparel belt. It's now much more diversified, but its manufacturing base includes many auto suppliers.

Still, Anderson is in better economic shape than many other parts of South Carolina, where unemployment rates are higher. Because it's on a corridor between Charlotte and Atlanta, it may see more business development after the economy turns around.

If that happens, it would boost home sales. But housing experts don't expect change to happen quickly. "It's not going to be a straight up arrow by any means," Crosson says. "It's going to take awhile."