In this month’s market update, we’ve got two new records to look at, and each one is astounding in it’s own right. Last month alone, we saw a 20.1% increase in the value of single-family homes last month alone. I’ve been in this business for over 15 years and I can’t recall witnessing such a spike in home values in just one month. The cause of this is the “perfect storm” that we touched on in videos prior: Sales are up, and inventory has fallen off a cliff (here’s the other record: we just hit a 10-year low in single-family home inventory).
Last month, single-family home sales were up 8.9% over January 2019, and inventory took a 19.6% tumble to land at 4.1 months (October 2007 was the last time we saw it that low). New construction sales were pretty solid, up 1.4% with a 5.2-month supply of inventory. Resale home sales are indicative of a relocation trend. People are moving from up north and other areas to Myrtle Beach, and I’m seeing an overall trend toward more full-time owners/occupants than we typically see here. Condo sales stayed nearly flat (0.6% increase), though their prices popped up 5.1%. Condo inventory is also down. My expert advice is to pay attention to the single biggest driver of our marketplace: single-family resale homes. Sellers, take advantage of this crazy jump in the value of your home. Average sales price went from $253,000 last year to $304,700 in January 2020. As I explained during a recent radio talk show appearance, we’re seeing an early entry into the spring market for a lot of 2020 buyers, so consider selling now; you may have more equity than you think. Buyers have reason to act now as well, because we’re only seeing prices go up; the next three months will be very, very strong. If you’re on the fence about selling, reply to this email or give me a call, because we absolutely need inventory. We have 50,000-plus buyers from all over the globe scanning our websites for properties. Please also reach out if you’d like an evaluation of your home—one that’s more accurate than the online calculations that have yet to catch up with our 20.1% spike.
We’ve got a brand-new market update for you today, complete with last month’s numbers, the year-end numbers, and more. There were two shocking numbers that we saw in last month’s data. First, we saw huge gains in single-family resale homes. Last month alone, we had a 27% increase in home sales compared to December 2018. We had 393 in December 2018 and 499 in December 2019. This is amazing, especially considering that December is one of the slower months of the year. These are great numbers to see as we head into 2020.
Our average sale price last month dropped 3.6% to $277.223. The great news is that if you look at the averages for 2019, prices are up 4%. Inventory is tightening up on the coast and easing up as we move more inland. Supply and demand will play a huge role in the next three months.
You can be more aggressive as a home seller in this market.
The other big number that stood out to me was our inventory. It’s the lowest that we’ve seen since we’ve been tracking it for the last five or six years. It dropped 17.6% and leaves us with 4.2 months of inventory. Anything less than six months puts us in a seller’s market. The lowest we’ve seen before this was 4.9 in January 2018. With less inventory, there’s less competition. When you combine that with our increase in sales, we’ll likely start to see upward pressure on pricing. Price is a lagging indicator of supply and demand. So if you’ve been thinking about selling your home, now is a fantastic opportunity to do so. You can be a lot more aggressive with your strategy in this kind of market. Now let’s look at new construction. They were up 9.1% last month, which is great. Prices dropped by 8.4% to $4283,411, but the 12-month rolling average shows that they rose 3.2% in 2019 as a whole. Condo sales saw huge growth last month as well. Sales were up 14.5% from where they were in December 2018. Prices are up 8.3% last month as well. The 12-month rolling average is 5.3%. The condo market is up in the $170,000 range, which is awesome. Inventory for condos is down to 4.7 months of inventory as well. The huge increases in condo and single-family resale home sales are the most shocking numbers to me. It’s also great news for potential home sellers. If you have any questions for me about the Myrtle Beach real estate market or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. I’d love to hear from you.
What do the latest year-over-year numbers tell us about our Myrtle Beach market as we make our way through December? Last month, we saw some very surprising numbers, including a few records being set. In November, single-family resale home sales rose 16.2%, and the median sale price rose 4.1% to $230,000. In early 2016, the median price was $179,900, so you can see how much it’s increased over the years. The key number, though, is inventory, which dropped 13.2% to a new low of 4.6 months. Since 2016, the previous all-time low was 4.9 months. This means there are hardly any resale homes on the market as we come to the end of 2019. As a result, we’ll see prices rise considerably in January and February of 2020. If you’re thinking of selling, this is a great opportunity because there’s less competition. After the holiday season, there’s typically an influx of inventory.
If you’re thinking about selling in the next couple of months, take advantage of this low inventory.
New construction sales dropped just 0.8% compared to November 2018, and the median sale price dropped 4.2% to $250,000. Most of this drop, in my opinion, is due to the diversification of the new construction market. Inventory, meanwhile, rose 2% to five months. As far as condos go, sales rose 0.8%, and the median sale price rose 9.6% to $142,500. Inventory for condos dropped 9.4% to 4.8 months. These numbers make it clear: The word’s out on Myrtle Beach. Our market has gotten so much national attention for our affordability, and we’re seeing a lot of people move here to take advantage of better deals. As I said, if you’re thinking about selling in the next couple of months, take advantage of this low inventory. If you have any more real estate questions or you’re thinking of buying a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.
