Residential Properties
- To start, January sales were down by 11% and February sales were down by 4.6% from last year at this time. This was a little concerning, but not if you take into account the fact that we had a record amount of growth last year with sales up by 20% as a whole.
- After ten strong months of double digit growth in 2013, sales volume in November and December were flat and 2014 year to date (YTD) sales are 5.1% behind 2013 levels.
- Factors contributing to the decline include record-setting 2013 sales, weather, tight inventory in parts of the Grand Strand, and fewer investor sales.
- Distressed inventory is also down by 24.3% since last February, but the amount of distressed properties in our inventory has risen slightly in the past two months. Distressed properties now make up 9.7% of all inventory.
- On the other hand, the median sales price for single-family residential (SFR) homes has maintained it's value at $185,000.
- Also, the median sales price has risen by 6.9% in 2014. We might expect to see a dip in these values as we are working with a seasonal market here in Myrtle Beach.
Condo Properties
- A real estate market update for Myrtle Beach would not be complete without a report on condo sales. We're off to a slow start in this sector as YTD sales are down 10.5% from prior years.
- Similar to SFR inventory, condo inventory rose from its January level. Although it is rising, condo inventory is still 1.1% below its February 2013 level, which makes it the lowest level ever seen in February.
- Distressed condo inventory declined for the 23rd straight month and is 48.8% below its February 2013 level.
- This inventory represents 7.2% of all condo listings.
- Although slipping in February, the YTD median sales price is flat to 2013 at $105,750.
- The decline in
February is
attributed to more cash buyers and lower sales prices on non-distressed
condos. We're going to keep a close eye on this market and hope that it
can stabilize as we head into 2014. However, we think that investors
will be confident about these properties and we might see some stability
soon.
Residential Lots
- Residential lots sales activity grew at 15.7% in February compared to 2013.
- YTD, residential lot sales are up 7.7%.
- The median sales price of residential lots was $45,000, which is a 40.8% growth over 2013.
- The improvement in the residential lot sales price was driven by fewer distressed lot sales.
