Your March 2019 Real Estate Market Update

What’s the latest in our market? Let’s take a look.

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We have the latest numbers for our Myrtle Beach market, just in time for the spring selling season’s arrival. Here’s what they say. Single-family home sales declined by 1.1% with 351 sales; however, prices increased by 12.5% last month alone. The median price was $224,950. There was no year-to-year change in the supply of homes for sale, which is currently at 5.2 months of inventory. Anything below six months is a seller’s market and anything above is a buyer’s market, so this means now is the time for sellers to get their homes listed. Interest rates also hit a 12-month low and are currently at 4.4% for a 30-year fixed rate. This means buyers will be jumping off the fence and into the market, and you’ll want to take advantage of it. There were 215 new construction home sales last month, which is typical of the last few months. We are seeing, however, a bit of softening in the market. New construction prices are up 8.3% compared to last year, which is a smaller increase than what we’ve seen in the recent past. The median price is $255,500. New construction inventory is at 5.4 months, a 3.8% increase from last year. As we head into the spring market, we’re well insulated from the factors that are affecting other markets throughout the country. While a lot of places are experiencing a slowdown, we have a great seasonal market and are a beach destination. People will be selling their homes up north and moving here. There were 406 condo sales last month, a decrease of 1.2%. Their median price is $124,900, which is an increase of 6.8%. Condo inventory also increased to 5.3 months, an increase of 3.9%. We’re definitely going into a great season for buyers and sellers alike. If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Your February Real Estate Market Update

Our Myrtle Beach market rebounded nicely last January from the recent dip in home sales we’ve been seeing.

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The year-over-year numbers from last January are in, and our Myrtle Beach market is back in business. Resale home sales rose 2.9% compared to January 2018, and their median sales price rose 10.7% to $210,250. There was five months’ worth of inventory for resale homes, which is more or less unchanged compared to January 2018. New construction home sales dropped 19%, but a lot of that was due to the backup from Hurricane Michael—inventory got pushed back almost a whole month because of all the evacuations. The median sales price of new construction homes rose 15.3% to $274,637, and similarly to resale homes, their level of inventory remained more or less unchanged compared to last year: 5.2 months.

This was a great rebound from our market.

Condo sales rose 7.1%, and their median sales price stayed pretty close to where it was at last year: $132,500. Inventory, meanwhile, rose slightly to 5.1 months. Overall, this was a great rebound from our market, and a lot of it had to do with the recent dip in interest rates. As you know, any inventory supply under six months constitutes a seller’s market, so with each type of property close to five months’ worth, this means we’re still in a slight seller’s market. As we head into spring, we’ll see more homes hit the market and saturate the marketplace. Right now, we’re still seeing a lot of home sellers from up north move into our area, so if you’re thinking about selling, now’s the time to make your own move. As always, if you have any questions about our Myrtle Beach market or you’d like to buy or sell a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Your January Real Estate Market Update

What message are today’s market trends sending buyers, sellers, and homeowners? Find out in today’s market update.

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Looking at the overall market in December of 2018, we saw that the market was down 20% as a whole. We broke down the numbers into segments: Resale Homes

• Resale home sales are down 13.4%. There were 361 resale home sales this past December, where there were 417 in December 2017. This is the second month in a row that we’ve seen such a decline.
• Prices were up 5.7% last month, with a median price of $226,000. Pricings are lagging indicators, which means that price always follows after sales (with about a three-month lag time), so we may see a softening of prices here in a few months.
• We noticed that our number of days on market was actually getting bigger, as well. It’s taking homes 9.2% longer to sell, with our average being 130 days on market.
• Inventory is down 3.8%, leaving us at five months of inventory. That means we’re technically in a seller’s market.

New Construction

• New construction sales were down 30.4% year over year as of last month. This may have something to do with the hurricane affecting what homes went under contract
• Prices actually went up 11.7%; the median price was $273,727, which is great news.

All three categories of properties are in a trifecta of decline, and the next number you can expect to drop will be home price.

Townhouses/Condos

• Condo sales were also down, having dropped 17% year over year.
• Prices were up 6.2%, however, with a $130,000 median price.
• The days on market went down 9.4%, leaving the average at about 115 days.
• Inventory increased 6.3% with 5.1 months of supply available.

Overall, the stats suggest that we’re probably going to enter into more of a buyer’s market this year. If you’re thinking about selling this spring or summer, that means you should make that decision sooner than later. All three categories of properties are in a trifecta of decline, and the next number you can expect to drop will be home prices. Sellers who want to get the most for their home sales should get a move on. Additionally, though we saw interest rates jump a few times last year, they actually dropped back down this past week to almost a one-year low. My long-term prediction for this year is that we’ll likely be fairly insulated from the general market decline. So many people are still retiring from the north to move down here, as South Carolina was recently ranked as the No. 6 retirement destination in the country. Remember that you can always tune in to my radio show on Saturdays and Sundays on WRNN 99.5. Otherwise, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. We’d love to help you any way we can.