Grand Strand Real Estate News - December 2023

December 2023

Volume 2023 Issue 12

Dear Gene Carter Team,

Summary

I hope everyone had a terrific holiday season. It’s time for my annual analysis of the previous year (2023). Please take time to look over the various charts and detailed comments in the main newsletter. Lots of cool stats! Here are the two big takeaways (explained in more detail in the body of the newsletter). 

Overall sales activity (number of closed sales) for oceanfront condos continued to decline from the peak in 2021. After a 24% drop in the number of sales in 2022, there was another 25% drop in the number of sales in 2023. 

The good news is that average prices continued to climb, up by 8% over prices in 2022. To put the rapid appreciation of the past few years in perspective, in the DECADE from 2009 to 2019, the average price bounced around between a low of $182,044 and a high of $203,243 for an overall average of $191,700. In the 4 years since then, average prices have increased 63% to $326,908 in 2023.

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Market Conditions

Overview: December sales activity was REALLY slow this year. Fortunately, 2024 seems to be starting out with a bang with 4 sales for my team in the past week. Small condos usually bought by investors are selling slowly and lots of owners are putting theirs up for sale. Large condos and oceanfront houses are selling extremely well and holding their prices. New construction homes are also being built and bought in droves. 

Buyers and Sellers: If you’re thinking of selling or buying, now is the time. Mid January through the end of April is typically the busiest time of any given year for both sales and listings. More listings for buyers and more buyers for listings!

The number of active oceanfront condo listings increased for the 9th month in a row. There were 775 active listings in December compared to 749 in November. The number of active condo listings off the beach also increased again for the 9th month in a row, from 1229 to 1270. (See chart in newsletter).

The average selling price was down 8.3% in December (month-to-month, See chart in newsletter). The number of new listings increased by 10.9%. Pending sales were down 17%. Interestingly, the number of closed sales increased by 18.8% over November, probably because many buyers and sellers were trying to close deals by the end of the year for tax reasons. 

New Homes and Resales

New construction sales dominated with 365 closed sales versus 284 resales. There were also more new construction listings, 405, versus 357 do listings for resales. (See chart in newsletter).

2023 Annual Oceanfront and Resort Condo Sales Analysis

Check it out in the main body of the newsletter. My analysis includes charts for historical yearly sales numbers and average prices (since 2004), number of sales by price range and number of bedrooms, cash vs. financed purchases, 4 years of sales comparisons for dozens of oceanfront and non-oceanfront developments, and sales volume rankings for real estate firms in our market.

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

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.

Greetings from the Grand Strand,

I hope everyone had a terrific holiday season. This is my annual analysis of the previous year in oceanfront and resort condo sales. It was interesting - though not record-breaking as the two previous years had been. I hope you will take time to look over the various charts and comments below but there were two big takeaways from the market data. Overall sales activity (number of closed sales) continued to decline from the peak in 2021. After a 24% drop in the number of sales in 2022, there was another 25% drop in the number of sales in 2023. The good news is that average prices continued to climb, up by 8% over prices in 2022. There’s lots of meaty information about 2023 sales in this newsletter but first let’s cover the current market conditions.

Oceanfront and Resort Condo Market Conditions

Overview: December is usually a slow month for condos but it was REALLY slow this year. Fortunately, 2024 seems to be starting out with a bang – several sales for my team already. I mentioned in my most recent newsletter that skyrocketing insurance costs and financing issues have had a big effect on ROIs for vacation rental condos. The result is that the small condos usually bought by investors are selling slowly and lots of owners are putting theirs up for sale. This shows up as increasing inventory and fewer pending listings in a couple of the charts below. On the other hand, large condos and oceanfront houses are selling extremely well and holding their prices. New construction homes are also being built and bought in droves. 

Buyers and Sellers: If you’re thinking of selling or buying, now is the time. Mid January through the end of April is typically the busiest time of any given year for both sales and listings. More listings for buyers and more buyers for listings!

As can be seen in the chart below, the number of active oceanfront condo listings increased for the 9th month in a row. There  were 775 active listings in December compared to 749 in November. The number of active condo listings off the beach also increased again for the 9th month in a row, from 1229 to 1270.

The next chart shows month-to-month metrics for oceanfront condos. Average selling price was down 8.3%. The number of new listings increased by 10.9%. Pending sales were down 17%. Interestingly, the number of closed sales increased by 18.8% over November. This is probably because many buyers and sellers try to close before the end of the year for tax reasons.

New Homes and Resales

The chart below shows single-family home stats for December. New construction sales dominated with 365 closed sales versus 284 resales. There were also more new construction listings, 405, versus 357 do listings for resales.

2023 Annual Oceanfront and Resort Condo Sales Analysis

Here is my big annual oceanfront condo sales analysis. Incidentally,  most resort condos (as opposed to condos purchased and occupied by primary residents) usually follow the same market trends as oceanfront condos. Stats on quite a few other resort condos (non-oceanfront) are also included. Let’s get started…

The first graph (below) shows the number of closed oceanfront condo sales in each year since 2004. 

The number of closed sales in 2023 decreased by almost 25% compared to 2022 (1622 vs. 2159). This puts the number of sales for 2023 lower than 2019 or 2020 and only slightly higher than 2018. It also just goes to show how outstanding 2022 and, particularly, 2021 were. I called them Unicorn years in other newsletters. Remember too that the number of existing oceanfront condos has remained constant during this entire time so this is a true measure of supply/demand. There have been no new ones built and none taken out of the market. By contrast, new residential single-family homes are being built and sold like crazy.

The next two Graphs (below) show the average closed sale prices and the median closed sale prices for oceanfront condos for the same years.

As previously mentioned, the average sale price continued to climb, from $303,525 in 2022 to $326,908 in 2023, an increase of just under 8%. Even if the price increases are slowing down, take a look at how sharp the price increases of recent years have been in relation to the long-term history. In the DECADE from 2009 to 2019, the average price bounced around between a low of $182,044 and a high of $203,243 for an overall average of $191,700. In the 4 years since then, average prices have increased 63% to $326,908 in 2023.

The graphic below shows closed oceanfront condo sales since 2020 by price range.

Of course, since all sales were down 25% from the previous year, there were decreases in most price categories. Once again, there were no oceanfront sales at all under $50,000. There were also very few sales in the $50,000 - $150,000 range because  there are very few properties left on the oceanfront at these prices. The price ranges with the most modest decreases in sales volume (meaning the sales volume dropped less than other price ranges) were from $450,000 and up. This matches my personal experience that the larger, more expensive properties continue to sell better than smaller properties.

The next chart shows the number of sales by number of bedrooms.

The numbers of sales were down regardless of the number of bedrooms with similar decreases across the board.

The next chart shows the average sale price by number of bedrooms.

Average selling prices increased for one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom condos. The price increase for efficiencies was very small, which is not surprising with the ROI issues these have been facing. I was a little surprised that the four-bedroom prices declined slightly. There are not too many data points for these so it could be just a random result.

The next chart  shows cash purchases versus financed purchases by year.

Cash still dominates, representing 56.8% of oceanfront condo Purchases in 2023. This was down slightly from previous years.

The next two tables show the respective numbers of closed sales for selected oceanfront and non-oceanfront developments for the past several years.

Generally, the number of sales roughly corresponds to the number of units in the development (the bigger the development, the more transactions). There is no clear pattern that I can discern for 2023 other than this. Also, since there were far fewer sales in 2023 than 2022 or 2021, most developments had fewer sales. If anything, it seems that sales for some of the condotels were down more than for other properties. In the big non-condotel buildings, some were up and some were down but in buildings like these, the number of sales in a given year is often a function of how many listings there were in that particular year.

The following chart shows the top 10 selling real estate companies on the Grand Strand rated by dollar volume. 

My company, RE/MAX Southern Shores, was second in our market for the second year in a row (after being number one for the previous eight years) with over $810 Million in gross sales volume. Please note that the company which has overtaken us the past two years has more than three times as many agents but only marginally higher sales volume so our production per agent is far higher. Also, with the RE/MAX Southern Shores satellite offices in Charleston and Florence included, the sales volume has been over $1Billion for 3 years in a row.

That’s it for my 2023 Annual oceanfront condo analysis. Remember that each owner’s and each potential buyer’s situation is unique so please contact us if you are thinking of buying or selling. We will be glad to work with you to develop your personalized plan to sell or buy.

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!

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 are some new reviews published on Google. 

• Our experience with Gene was such a pleasure! When we first met with him, we weren't sure if we were ready to sell our condo yet. After sitting down with him our minds were made up. He's extremely knowledgeable about the market in Myrtle Beach and surrounding Beach areas. Gene and his team helped make the sale go as smooth as possible. We would highly recommend him if you're thinking about selling. You won't be disappointed! Ray & Lisa. Prince. N. Myrtle Beach.

• Gene Carter is a true real estate agent professional. If you want your property to sell, you better list it with Gene and his team at Beach Pro. The other agents, I worked with in Myrtle Beach had one type of marketing plan, lower the price! Gene has a true marketing approach to get his listing to sell. I just wish that I hadn't wasted my time working with two other agents. I was introduced to Gene after he sold a condo for my sister-in-law. If you want the best than give Gene Carter a call! Mark. Monterey Bay. Myrtle Beach.

We just started collecting Google reviews. At this time we have over 20 Google Five Star reviews and over 150 Zillow Five Star reviews which can be seen on our website Beach Pro Team reviews. 

Grand Strand Market Report - November 2023