Myrtle Beach Real Estate Market Report for July 2013

Good news for the Grand Strand Real Estate Market

In July, Single Family Residential Sales were up 12.5% compared to 2012; year to date, SFR sales are up 20.1% from 2012. In addition to these strong sales numbers, prices are up as well, the median sales price was $177,836 up 4.94% over last July and 4.77% year to date.  Inventories of homes for sale continued to decline, but are still up 4.45% from last year, but the good news for sellers is the distressed inventory (houses in foreclosure) is down 32.6% below last year—taking some downward pressure off prices.

Condos sales are up 17% compared to last July and 7.6% year to date. The median condo sale price is $110,000, up 16.4% over last July and up 2.6% year to date.  Condo inventory is down 8.43% and the distressed inventory down a whopping 43.7%.

What do all these numbers mean to the average seller or buyer?  For sellers, it’s looking better and if you’ve priced your house with the market, stick with your price.  For buyers, it’s no longer the time to make unrealistically low offers as sellers are seeing multiple offers for well-priced homes.

This data is based on research by Site Tech Systems; read their full report at: 

http://www.sitetechsystems.com/Grand_Strand_Market_Report.pdf

Myrtle Beach Real Estate Market for June 2013

In June Single Family homes continued strong with the number of sales year to date up 19.2% from 2012 with the median sales price up 6.72% YTD.

However, inventories are up almost 7% from last year and mortgage interest rates are slowly climbing higher; these factors will keep the number of sales and further price gains under pressure, but off setting this is the number of distressed properties (foreclosed, etc.) which is down 33.8% from last year.

Condos show smaller gains with the number of sales up 4.8% year to date and the median sales price about the same; distressed properties are down sharply, 43.7% from last year, potentially good news for sellers. Condos remain difficult to finance with about 61% being cash sales compared with about 26% for single family homes.

The complete market report compiled by SiteTech Systems can be found at:

http://www.sitetechsystems.com/Grand_Strand_Market_Report.pdf

Existing Home Sales Nationwide

The National Association of Realtors has just published an article about existing home sales which shows strong gains across the country. Here's the link:

http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2013/06/28/existing-home-sales-by-price-category/

April Home Prices See Biggest Yearly Gain in 7 Years

Nationwide, the housing recovery has picked up speed and many parts of the country are seeing a return of multiple offers, house flippers (gasp!) and a tight supply of available homes.

CoreLogic's home price index rose 12.1 percent in April over year ago levels--a huge rise that is not sustainable--they predict a 2.7 percent rise in May when that data is available.

These states has the largest price gains over the past year, but remember, they're among those that fell the most:
Nevada up 24.6%, California up 19.4%, Arizona up 17.3%, Hawaii up 17% and Oregon up 15.5% 

Most of these states have a long way to go to get back to pre housing bust levels. (Remember the math: if a property fell 50%, it has to go up 100% to get back to where it started.)

In the Grand Strand, prices and sales are up more modestly, which is good.  The May report from SiteTech Systems can be found at: SitetechSystem's Grand Strand Market Report for May 2013.

Why is it good we're up more modestly?  Easy, let's learn from recent history; a slow steady improvement in our market is a whole lot better than disruptive large fluctuations.  April's 12.1% national increase is not sustainable and if I'm wrong and it is: What's that called?  A bubble; been there, done that, don't want to do it again!