Why the 2020 Market Won’t Be Going out Quietly

Here are the latest news and notes from our Myrtle Beach market.

Another month in the books for 2020, another set of astonishing numbers to review! Single-family home sales for October were up 42% year over year from 471 to 669—a truly massive jump. I’ve been in real estate for 10 years and I can’t remember the last time we saw a 40%-plus increase in home sales. Additionally, the median sales price rose 13.9% month over month from $262,000 in September to over $300,000 in October. 

For quite some time now, we’ve been tracking our market’s inventory crisis; whereas a healthy marketplace usually has around five to six months’ worth of inventory, we’re currently hovering around just 2.4 months’ worth, meaning that there are simply not enough available homes to meet buyer demand. There was a colossal year-over-year drop in inventory for October—52% to be exact. That means we’ll see intense upward pressure on price, which is always a lagging indicator. If you’re thinking about selling, now is definitely the right time. 

To get a clearer idea of future business, we always track real-time showings; as of October, the number of showings per listing is up 58.7% across our entire MLS, which means we’ll see yet another increase in sales within the next 45 to 60 days when all those buyers pull the trigger. We’re still seeing a sizable migration of buyers from the northern cities down into our Myrtle Beach area, which has been fueled largely by our lower cost of living, our lower average sale price of real estate, and the greater ability of many to work remotely. 

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There was a colossal year-over-year drop in inventory for October—52% to be exact.

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Interest rates are also at an all-time low. Currently, we’re still scraping the floor with rates as a low as 2.98%. Last month, condo sales were up 36%, and prices were up 13% to $197,568. That’s amazing news, but there’s also a supply crisis in the condo market, as supply is down 25.5% at 3.8 months’ worth of inventory. As is the case for single-family homes, buyer traffic has only increased amid low inventory. Showings per listing are up 23.8% in the condo market. 

At the moment, we have 59,287 active buyers cataloged in our system alone. To help match these buyers with the right home, we developed a technology that takes any new listing and uses data on its features to create a reverse search and find the most likely buyer based on a buyer’s previous search patterns. The reality is, I outspend the average agent 100 to one from a marketing standpoint, and as you read this, I’m marketing for buyers across the country. 

If you want to know more about how we help buyers get into the homes they want, reach out to me by phone or email. If you’re thinking about selling and want to do so with as little hassle as possible while still fetching top dollar, it’s time to give me a call. We’re here and ready to help you achieve your real estate goals in this hot end-of-year market. 

Q: What Kind of Records Is Our Market Setting?

Sellers: You must strike while the iron is hot, and that time is now.

According to the September year-over-year numbers, our Myrtle Beach real estate market is setting records left and right. 

Single-family resale home sales rose 31.6% from 500 to 685. The median price for single-family resale homes jumped 12% to $270,000, while the average sale price spiked 17% to $347,669. The most shocking number, though, is the inventory level—there are 50% fewer homes on the market now than there were at this time last year. Officially, we’re at 2.6 months of inventory, which is the lowest I’ve seen since we started tracking the MLS numbers. 

If you remember, anything below six months of inventory constitutes a seller’s market, and a healthy market generally has four to six months of inventory. Our 2.6 months of inventory puts us in a massive seller’s market, and we’re actually in what we call an ‘inventory crisis.’ We have way more buyers entering the market than homes available for sale. Part of this is due to the increase in sales, but COVID-19 has also played a hand in this development. Thankfully, with the safety protocols we’ve implemented, my team and I have had zero issues helping sellers sell. 

If there’s a number that can really help us forecast what will happen moving forward, it’s showings per listing, which rose 63% year over year. In other words, listings are getting about 63% more visitors than they did last year. 

As you know, we always try to gauge what’s happening in real time on my weekly WRNN radio show by tracking how many properties go under contract on a weekly basis. In the week prior to the recording of this video, there were 801 of these properties. During the week I recorded this video, that number dropped to 674.

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   We have way more buyers entering the market than homes available for sale.

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If you’re thinking of selling, you want to strike while the iron is hot. I don’t know what’s going to happen after the election, or how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out, or where interest rates will be next year. Interest rates, in particular, are what’s driving our market. As of the recording of this video, they were hovering around 3.02%. Before that, they were sitting at 2.98%.

Right now, we’re seeing a perfect storm for our market. A surplus of buyers from the Northeast are resettling here in Myrtle Beach, primarily because they’re frustrated with government. With all the restrictions in place, they’re taking an early retirement, and we’ve been selling a lot of properties virtually to these buyers. 

What about the condo market? Condo sales were huge last month, rising 20% from 449 to 539 sales. The median price, meanwhile rose 14.8% to $155,000, and the average sale price rose 22% to $197,469. The condo market is seeing the same challenge as the resale market in terms of supply—inventory dropped 16.2% to just 4.2 months. The number of showings per listing rose 38.9%. Again, this means a tremendous number of buyers are looking for condos, and the biggest obstacle is simply finding properties for them. We have 58,000+ buyers on our website, and the reality is that we don’t have that many homes for sale. 

If you’ve been thinking about selling or had your home on the market in the past but failed to sell, give me a call or send an email so I can help you take advantage of this opportunity. Many sellers are selling for way more money than they thought they could, and they have far more equity in their homes than previously thought. The market is moving quickly, and you need an agent on your side who sells a lot of properties. The average agent sells just four homes per year, and that’s not going to cut it in this fast-paced market. 

As always, if you have any other real estate needs, feel free to reach out to me as well. I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Q: Where’s the Myrtle Beach Market Heading?

Here’s how the fall real estate market is shaping up in Myrtle Beach.

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I have the very latest numbers for the Myrtle Beach real estate market, and they’re some of the craziest numbers I’ve ever seen. 

Last month, sales were up 5.7% from this time last year. They’re down slightly from July, but that is mostly due to low inventory. In the same time frame, prices are up 14.9% from July to August. The average price in the Grand Strand is $335,881. Many sellers have a lot of equity in their homes and are realizing that when they sell. If you’re curious about what your home is worth, we’d be happy to take a look for you.

Inventory is the real story here. It’s down 45.3% from last year at this time, and it’s causing the big increase in prices. This is the lowest I've seen inventory levels since we’ve had this technology to track it—October 2006. All-time low interest rates are causing massive demand, and more and more transplants from larger cities are moving to the area for more freedom and a lower cost of living. 

Home showings are an important leading indicator of the market. They’re up 22% in the last month. This leads us to believe that home sales are going to see an uptick over the next few months, provided more are listed. The truth is that we are in an inventory crisis. The active buyers far outnumber the active homes for sale, but we’re hoping to match buyers and sellers together through our systems. If you or someone you know is looking to sell their home, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

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   Inventory is down nearly 50% from last year.

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New construction homes last month were up 21%, while prices were up 10.7%. Inventory for these homes is down to just four months, and builders are building as fast as they can.  As for condos, sales were up 2.3% last month, while prices were up 8.3%. The supply for condos is also down to a little over four months, and they’re also in a seller’s market.

As we progressed through August, my team and I were keeping an eye on real-time data each day that shows where the market is and where it’s headed. Things started to pick back up in the last seven days of August. 869 properties went under contract, and prices spiked. We don’t know how long these conditions will last, but we do know that you can take advantage of them right now.

If you have questions for me about buying, selling, or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email.