Grand Strand Real Estate News - April 2023

April 2023

Volume 2023 Issue 4

Dear Gene Carter Team,

Summary

Local Developments and Announcements

A new PGA Tour tournament, the Myrtle Beach Classic, will be held at the oceanside Dunes Golf and Beach Club. It will be part of the PGA Tour’s 2024 FedExCup regular season as a full-field event and will feature a purse of $3.9 million along with FedEx points for the champion. A 4 year contract is in place. Dates to be announced. The Myrtle Beach area is known worldwide for its 90 plus courses.

Myrtle Beach International Airport just completed its busiest April ever with more than 294,000 passengers. In 2022, more than 3.5 million people traveled through Myrtle Beach, setting another record. To handle this growth, approximately $100 million in renovations are currently underway. Six gates are being added to the terminal, bringing the total to 18. The expected completion date is sometime in 2025. Improvements are also being made to the TSA checkpoint, food options and parking.

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Market Update

In a reversal of the past eight months, the number of active oceanfront listings increased from 370 in March to 434 at the end of April. The number of active condo listings off the beach also reversed course and increased from 711 in March to 774 at the end of April. See chart below.

The average selling price increased slightly again (5.4%) to $318,255. The number of new listings increased by 11.3% and, as previously reported, the number of active listings increased by 22.9%. The number of active sales was the same as in March while the number of pending sales decreased by 10.7%. So we had an increase in new listings and a decrease in new contracts (pendings) which resulted in a big increase in the number of active listings. See Chart below

Sellers: Reasonably priced listings are still selling well but buyers are becoming wary. Many of the new listings are testing the waters with higher asking prices and the buyers are not willing to pay these prices. I’m also starting to encounter some resistance from appraisers when a listing goes under contract at a high price. Now is still, however, a great time to sell (better than any time in the past 15 years).

Buyers: We have more listings to choose from than we’ve had in the past eight months. There’s also still time to close right before the peak rental season. Please contact Teressa or Kevin if you’re interested in purchasing.

 Sales Patterns from the Past 2 Years - Condos Vs Houses

The four graphs in the newsletter below clearly show the relationship between supply/demand and prices for condos and single family homes. The patterns for the different types of properties have been very similar.

The first two graphs show the monthly changes in median sales prices for condos/townhouses (all, not just oceanfront) and for single family homes from 2020 until the present. Both increased steadily during this time until spring of 2022 then prices leveled off. 

The next two graphs show monthly supplies of listings for sale during the same time. Inventory dropped until it bottomed out for both in spring of 2021.The supply of active listings has been increasing in general since then although it started leveling off for condos about seven or eight months ago (until recent weeks). 

To summarize, for houses and condos, prices increased as inventory dropped until the supply of listings started increasing again.

The general consensus is that it’s a seller’s market if there is less than three months inventory and a buyer’s market if there is more than six months inventory. In between (3 to 6 months inventory) is considered to be a neutral market. Using these guidelines, both became seller’s markets in early 2021. 

Single-family homes have now crept up into the neutral market scenario. I think this may be because the new home builders stepped up their pace, increasing the supply side of the equation. The low inventory in the oceanfront segment of the market is still keeping condos in a marginally buyer’s market scenario. 

New Home Sales (Resales too)

For the third month in a row, there were more new home sales than there were resales for single family homes. The chart below provides further insight.

Please Contact The Beach Pro Team If:

You are thinking of buying or selling an oceanfront or resort condo in our area.

                                                                  Or

You are considering moving to our area or know someone else who is.

                                                                   Or

You are an agent who has clients thinking of moving here or buying or selling in our area.

                                                                   Or

You currently own a condo in our area and want a permanent home here.

Check out our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, my Best Buys, and new Beach Pro Team reviews.

Greetings from the Grand Strand!

There are some interesting market stats in this month’s newsletter but first, let’s take a look at some big local developments

New Myrtle Beach PGA Tournament

A new PGA Tour tournament, the Myrtle Beach Classic, will be held in Myrtle Beach in 2024. It will be sponsored by Visit Myrtle Beach. There is a four-year agreement establishing the event, which will be held at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club. It will be part of the PGA Tour’s 2024 FedExCup regular season as a full-field event and will feature a purse of $3.9 million along with FedEx points for the champion. Tournament dates will be announced later. The Myrtle Beach area has often been described as the golf capital of the world with over 90 courses. The oceanside Dunes course was opened in 1948 and has hosted a number of high-level events through the years.

Airport Expansion 

Myrtle Beach International Airport  just completed its busiest April ever with more than 294,000 passengers. In 2022, more than 3.5 million people traveled through Myrtle Beach, setting another record. To handle all of this growth, there’s approximately $100 million in renovations currently underway. Six gates are being added to the terminal, bringing the total to 18. The expected completion date is sometime in 2025. Improvements are also being made to the TSA checkpoint to alleviate occasional long lines. More food options are being added as well as more fuel storage capacity. Also, the parking capacity is being expanded. More direct flights are frequently being announced as well.

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Market Update

Here is the updated chart for active oceanfront condo listings. In a reversal of the past eight months, the number of active oceanfront listings increased from 370 in March to 434 at the end of April. The number of active condo listings off the beach also reversed course and increased from 711 in March to 774 at the end of April.

The chart below shows month-to-month metrics for oceanfront condos. The average selling price increased slightly again (5.4%) to $318,255. The number of new listings increased by 11.3% and, as previously reported, the number of active listings increased by 22.9%. The number of active sales was the same as in March while the number of pending sales decreased by 10.7%. 

So we had an increase in new listings and a decrease in new contracts (pendings) which resulted in a big increase in the number of active listings. We’ll have to see if this pattern continues into the summer.

Sellers: Reasonably priced listings are still selling well but buyers are becoming wary. I think the reason sales have dropped off a little bit and active listings have increased is partly because many of the new listings are testing the waters with higher asking prices and the buyers are not willing to pay these prices. I’m also starting to encounter some resistance from appraisers when a listing goes under contract at a high price. Now is still, however, a great time to sell (better than any time in the past 15 years).

Buyers: We have more listings to choose from than we’ve had in the past eight months. There’s also still time to close right before the peak rental season. Please contact Teressa or Kevin if you’re interested in purchasing.

Sales Patterns from the Past 2 Years - Condos Vs Houses

The following graphs are provided by InfoSparks to our local Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors (CCAR). These particular graphs clearly show the relationship between supply/demand and prices for both condos and single family homes . 

The first two show the monthly changes in median sales prices for condos/townhouses (all, not just oceanfront) and for single family homes from 2020 until the present. The patterns look very similar. Both increased steadily during this time until spring of 2022 then prices leveled off. Prices have been bouncing around in the same ranges for both since then.

The next two graphs show monthly supplies of listings for sale during the same time. Again, condos and single family homes show similar patterns. Inventory dropped until it bottomed out for both in spring of 2021.The supply of active listings has been increasing in general since then although it started leveling off for condos about seven or eight months ago (Until recent weeks). 

In other words, for houses and condos, prices increased as inventory dropped until the supply of listings started increasing again

Incidentally the general consensus is that it’s a seller’s market if there is less than three months inventory and a buyer’s market if there is more than six months inventory. In between (3 to 6 months inventory) is considered to be a neutral market. Using these guidelines, both became seller’s markets in early 2021. 

Single-family homes have now crept up into the neutral market scenario. I think this may be because the new home builders stepped up their pace, increasing the supply side of the equation. While there are new condos being built off the ocean, there are no new condo towers being built so the low inventory in that segment of the market is still keeping condos in a marginally buyers market scenario. 

New Home Sales (Resales too)

For the third month in a row, there were more new home sales than there were resales for single family homes. The chart below provides further insight.

Please Contact The Beach Pro Team If:

You are thinking of buying or selling an oceanfront or resort condo in our area

                                                                  Or

You are considering moving to our area or know someone else who is

                                                                  Or

You are an agent who has clients thinking of moving here or buying or selling in our area

                                                                  Or

You currently own a condo in our area and want a permanent home

That’s all for now. Check out our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, my Best Buys, and new Beach Pro Team reviews.

See you at the beach!

Here is a new review published on Google. 

• It was a pleasure working with Gene from Remax. My property was listed and sold within less than 3 weeks with no problems at all. Everything went by very smoothly, he even recommended us a closing attorney. I highly recommend him! Ashrav. Sand Dunes. Myrtle Beach.

We just started collecting Google reviews. At this time we have over 150 Zillow reviews which can be seen on our website Beach Pro Team reviews. 

Grand Strand Market Report - March 2023

OF/OV Homes Brochures:    Link to Listings 

OF/OV Homes Spreadsheet:   Link to Spreadsheet 

OF/OV Condo Brochures:    Link to Listings

OF/OV Condo Spreadsheet:   Link to Spreadsheet

Non-OF Condo Brochures:     Link to Listings 

Non-OF Condo Spreadsheet:  Link to Spreadsheet

Gene Carter

Beach Pro Team

Cell Phone:  843-455-4785

Email: GeneCarter@BeachProTeam.com

Website:  www.BeachProTeam.com