Eleven William Means Real Estate Agents Receive Prestigious Awards
William Means Real Estate announced that 11 of its agents have received recognition from the Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS® for outstanding sales production for the year 2022. The REALTORS® of Distinction award recognizes the top 10 percent of producing Charleston REALTORS® who met stringent requirements including sales production, education requirements and adhering to the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
The Downtown William Means office is located at 25 Broad Street.
“William Means agents have incredible knowledge and understanding that you won’t find at any other brokerage in Charleston,” said Lyles Geer, President and Broker-in-Charge for William Means Real Estate. “For 90 years, our firm has offered the highest level of service and expertise to generations of Lowcountry residents and will continue to do so for years to come.”
Two William Means Real Estate Agents qualified for the Platinum category, which represents the top two percent of REALTORS® in the Charleston area. This category requires agents to have sold more than $26,600,000 in volume and/or more than 50.5 sides. Lyles Geer and Kalyn Smythe received this honor, each achieving $50M and $43M in sales, respectively.
The Gold category (top 5 percent) requires agents to have sold $16,900,000 to $26,599,999 in volume and/or 33-50 sides. Alex Brener, Jane Dowd, Farrah Follmann, and Michelle McQuillan received this designation.
The Silver category (top 10 percent) requires an agent to have sold $11,300,000 to $16,899,999 in volume and/or 24.5-32.5 sides. Etta Connolly, Mary de Saussure Cutler, Will Dammeyer, Leize Gaillard, and Harrison Gilchrist received this honor. Agent Helen Geer is also qualified for this category.
Year after year, William Means remains at the forefront of the local luxury market. The boutique company achieved more than $360M in sales in 2022 with an average sales price of $1.38M. As one of the oldest real estate firms in the area and an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, their agents are consistently among the top producers in the Charleston area.
The annual REALTORS® of Distinction ceremony brings the Realtor community together to recognize the top agents in the Charleston area. All 2022 REALTORS® of Distinction recipients will be treated to an exclusive keynote address and award ceremony on March 28 at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
The Minority Homeownership Gap in Charleston Is Smaller Than the National Average
Homeownership offers the opportunity to accumulate wealth and keep housing costs relatively consistent over time, both of which contribute to financial stability. However, home ownership benefits have not been experienced equally. Significant racial disparities in home ownership rates have persisted for decades, leading to large racial wealth gaps for some minority groups.
The minority home ownership gap, defined here as the difference between the White home ownership rate and the minority home ownership rate, hovers around 25 percentage points for years. In 2021, record low interest rates helped push the minority homeownership rate past 50% for the first time since 2007. The White homeownership rate ticked upwards as well, to over 73%. While the homeownership gap dropped slightly to 22.3% in 2021, minority homeownership continues to significantly lag behind that of White Americans.
Although the overall minority home ownership rate is more than 22 percentage points lower than that of Whites, minority home ownership varies by race and ethnicity. Among minority groups, Asians have the highest rate of home ownership at 62.8%. Black or African Americans have the lowest home ownership rate, at just 44.3%.
The home ownership gap between Blacks and Whites has actually widened since the 1960s, when it was legal to refuse to sell a home to someone because of their race. Blacks were hit harder than other groups by the housing crisis in 2008, because they more frequently bought homes at the height of the bubble and were disproportionately the victims of subprime loan lenders. As a result, Black homeownership felt substantially, and the homeownership gap grew.
The minority home ownership gap varies across the US due to factors such as local demographic makeup and historical home ownership rates. On a regional basis, the minority home ownership gap is the largest in the Midwest and Northeast. The Dakotas have the largest minority home ownership gaps in the country, with North Dakota at 35.9 percentage points and South Dakota at 33.2. In Hawaii, the minority home ownership gap is actually positive, with the non-White home ownership rate 3.4 percentage points higher than the White home ownership rate.
To determine the locations with the largest minority home ownership gaps, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed the latest data from the US Census Bureau. The researchers ranked metros according to the minority home ownership gap, defined as the percentage point difference in home ownership rates between Whites and minorities. Researchers also calculated the minority median property value and the White median property value. Minorities are people who are not non-Hispanic White.
Here is a summary of the data for the Charleston-North Charleston, SC metro area (note that some minority homeownership gaps may not equal the sum of their components due to rounding error):
• Minority home ownership gap (percentage points): -16.5
• Minority home ownership rate: 60.1%
• White home ownership rate: 76.7%
• Minority median property value: $220,000
• White median property value: $350,000
For reference, here are the statistics for the entire United States:
• Minority home ownership gap (percentage points): -22.3
• Minority home ownership rate: 51.1%
• White home ownership rate: 73.4%
• Minority median property value: $280,000
• White median property value: $270,000
For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Construction Coverage’s website: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-with-the-largest-minority-homeownership-gap-2023