Most resale closings on Daniel Island include a Community Enhancement Fee. For DIPA properties and most DICA parcels, the Daniel Island property owners' association sets it at one-half of one percent of the sale price, capped at $8,105. Apply that half-percent rate to the island's typical townhouse or condo sale and the fee doubled this year. At the 2025 year-to-date attached median of $520,000 it comes to $2,600. At the 2026 year-to-date median of $1,044,500, through September, it comes to $5,222.50.
What changed is the typical sale. Whether a given Daniel Island condo is actually worth twice what it was a year ago is a separate question, and the evidence suggests it is not.
What the September Report Actually Counts
The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors publishes a monthly Local Market Update for Daniel Island, which it tracks as MLS Area 77. The September 2026 edition is current as of October 9, 2026, and it shows two very different markets on one island.
| Year to date, January through September | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached median sale price | $1,912,500 | $2,132,708 | +11.5% |
| Detached closed sales | 136 | 168 | +23.5% |
| Attached median sale price | $520,000 | $1,044,500 | +100.9% |
| Attached average sale price | $787,754 | $1,211,504 | +53.8% |
| Attached closed sales | 67 | 138 | +106.0% |
For the island's single-family homes, an 11.5% rise is a strong year but an ordinary-looking one. On the attached side, the number of sales doubled and the median doubled along with it. The pairing matters. A market where the same kind of condo changes hands at twice last year's price looks different from a market where twice as many sales happened and many of them were a different kind of condo.
Look at the median and the average side by side. The attached median rose 100.9%, while the average rose 53.8%. When every unit reprices together, the two numbers tend to move together. When the median jumps much more than the average, the middle of the sales pool has shifted. Fewer sales landed in the lower price range and more landed close to $1 million.
CTAR's own footnote applies here. Percent changes "can sometimes look extreme due to small sample size." At 138 attached closings in nine months, a few dozen new units can redraw the curve.
A New Building Can Move a Median Without Changing a Single Price
The few dozen new units exist. In September 2026, East West Partners announced that Phase III of The Waterfront Daniel Island was complete and more than 60% sold. The phase includes 30 Plover and Whimbrel condominium residences, 11 Sanderling townhomes and six Marshfront Homes, according to the developer's announcement on Who's On The Move. That makes 41 condos and townhomes, the kind of property CTAR counts as attached.
These were never priced as entry-level homes. When Phase III launched in 2024, it was marketed from the $900,000s. The Sanderling townhomes were first offered in 2023 from $2 million. Those are launch prices from two and three years ago, not today's price sheet, but they show where this inventory sits.
A smaller project points the same way. The Daniel Island News reported in June 2025 that S.L. Shaw & Associates was building a three-story, five-condo building at 211 Seven Farms Drive. The units ran 2,300 to 2,800 square feet, started at $1.9 million and were expected to finish in spring 2026.
Add up the shift and it lines up with what the CTAR table shows. Attached closings rose by 71 year to date. These two projects hold up to 46 new for-sale condos and townhomes, priced near or above the new median, and both reached completion around this period, with 211 Seven Farms targeted for spring 2026 and Phase III finished by September 2026. No published source gives the closing dates or counts for those units, and CTAR hasn't attributed the jump to new construction. Treat it as the most likely explanation, not a proven one. But it accounts for the numbers better than the idea that every older condo on the island doubled in value.
The monthly data shows the timing. The attached median for September 2025 alone was $906,250, already far above that year's $520,000 year-to-date figure. September 2026 came in at $1,014,000, up 11.9%. Measured month against month, after the higher-priced mix had already started showing up in late 2025, the increase looks much like the detached side.
The Cap That Keeps This Mix in Place
On most growing suburbs, a wave of luxury condos would eventually be balanced out by the next wave of cheaper product. Daniel Island works under a different rule. Its development agreement limits the island to 7,500 residential units. At a September 2026 neighborhood meeting, Charleston City Councilman Boyd Gregg said projects under construction or in permitting would bring the island to 7,046 units, leaving roughly 450, as The Daniel Island News reported.
"We are all committed to never raising that cap," Gregg said, according to The Daniel Island News.
Not everything in the pipeline will show up in sales data, either. Marin, the fourth phase at The Waterfront, is 128 for-rent residences expected to open in spring 2027. Rentals don't close through the MLS as sales, so they won't move the attached median in either direction.
With little room left under the cap, the Phase III residences are now a lasting part of a small for-sale pool. When they come back to market as resales, they'll compete with the island's older condos and townhomes in the same Area 77 numbers. The attached median is therefore likely to keep reflecting a mix weighted toward newer, larger, pricier units, regardless of how any one building's values move.
Where the Fee Schedule Meets the Median
The fee from the opening is one of several costs on the association's 2026 Real Estate Closing Fees schedule. Daniel Island has three associations: the Daniel Island Community Association, or DICA; the Daniel Island Park Association, or DIPA; and the Daniel Island Town Association, or DITA. Which one a property belongs to changes the numbers.
- Annual assessment: $1,029 for DICA and $1,074 for DIPA, prorated at closing
- Community Enhancement Fee: 0.5% of the sale price for DIPA and most DICA parcels, 0.25% for DICA parcels N and O, capped at $8,105 in each case and not prorated
- Capitalization fee: $171.50 for DICA, which is one-sixth of the annual assessment, and $358 for DIPA, which is one-third
- Estoppel fee: $350 on DICA and DIPA resale closings
- Mailbox fee: $475 for DICA
- DITA properties: the schedule doesn't list amounts and directs questions to association staff
The association's resale addendum assigns the Community Enhancement Fee to the purchaser at closing. The cap is what makes the fee interesting as prices change. At 0.5%, the fee reaches $8,105 at a sale price of $1,621,000 and stops growing after that.
That puts the island's two markets on opposite sides of the cap. A condo selling at September 2026's attached median of $1,014,000 would carry a $5,070 fee, the full half percent. A house at that month's detached median of $2,672,500 would hit the $8,105 cap, or about 0.30% of the price. As the attached mix moves up, more condo buyers pay the full rate. Above about $1.6 million, the fee shrinks as a share of the price.
Reading a Daniel Island Comparable in 2026
Since the median now partly measures which buildings sold, the useful questions about a comparable sale are about the building itself. Was it a first sale of new construction or a resale? Which collection was it in, and how old is it? Which association, and for DICA, which parcel? A 2026 sale at The Waterfront and a resale in an older condo building fall in the same CTAR category and tell you very different things about value.
The September 2026 numbers also show the two markets moving at different speeds. Attached homes that closed in September sold in a median of 26 days, down from 64 in September 2025, and brought 97.1% of original list price. Detached homes took 38 days and brought 94.8%, with detached inventory up to 44 homes from 28 a year earlier. Attached inventory also stood at 44, up from 40. For the moment, single-family homes are selling more slowly and further below list price than condos, while condo inventory has grown less.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the rest of the Charleston market seeing the same jump? No. CTAR's September 2026 regional report shows a $425,000 median sale price across the region, up 0.7% from September 2025, with homes taking 55 days to sell. Regional inventory stood at 5,590 homes, or 3.6 months of supply.
Are there still new Phase III residences at The Waterfront? As of the September 2026 completion announcement, the developer said a limited selection remained across the Marshfront Homes, condominiums and townhomes, and that finished residences were open for tours.
Does the Community Enhancement Fee apply to every property? The 2026 schedule lists it for DICA and DIPA properties, at different rates depending on parcel. For DITA, the schedule refers buyers to association staff rather than listing a rate.
How much more housing can Daniel Island add? About 450 units, based on the figures Councilman Gregg gave in September 2026 against the 7,500-unit cap in the development agreement.
If you're weighing a Daniel Island condo or townhome and want to know which recent sales really compare to the one you're looking at, Ever Haus Properties can go through the comparables building by building with you, closing fees included. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
