SPARTANBURG -- Fewer residential building permits were issued in Spartanburg County last year, with builders slowing a brisk construction pace set in 2005 and 2006. According to a report conducted by The Market Edge, a Tennessee-based company that tracks residential building trends, 1,810 permits were issued in 2007, a 13.8 percent drop from the 2,100 permits issued in 2006. The decline follows a 13.2 percent spike in 2005 to 2,193 building permits. Spartanburg's building permit numbers in 2003 and 2004 were 1,640 and 1,937.

Read more at The (Spartanburg) Herald-Journal...

MYRTLE BEACH -- Condo prices saw double-digit drops in January compared with the same month last year, the latest indication of a lagging housing market. Median condo prices dropped 24 percent, from $218,000 to $166,500, according to statistics released Thursday by the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. The median price is where half sell for more and half sell for less. Realtors said the price declines stem from the vast oversupply of homes on the market that's forcing some sellers to slash prices to make their homes competitive.

Read more at The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News...

GREENVILLE -- The Upstate's market for commercial real estate looks pretty good right now, but the forecast is clouded by a slowing national economy and the local effects of a global credit squeeze. That's how Brian Reed, research manager for Grubbs & Ellis/The Furman Co., sums up the company's outlook for office, retail and industrial properties.

Read more at The Greenville News...