Posted By Gene Carter @ Mar 23rd 2020 5:05pm In: Monthly Real Estate News


Grand Strand Real Estate News


January 2020


Volume 2020 Issue 1

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Dear Gene Carter Team,

Summary

Sales Activity has picked up dramatically with 6 of my oceanfront and resort condo listings selling in the first 14 days of February. Great time to buy or sell.

We have completed our 2019 closed sales histories. For over 190 developments, we have concise spreadsheets showing closed sales prices, asking prices, days on the market, closing dates and much more - every year since 2009. Great info for buyers and sellers. To sign up: 


Below is my 2019 comprehensive oceanfront and resort condo sales analysis - focused specifically on this hyper local segment of our market - complete with reports on numbers of sales, average and median prices, sales per price range, sales per number of bedrooms, cash versus financed sales, comparative numbers of sales in 100 popular developments, and the leading sales companies on the Grand Strand (My company, RE/MAX Southern Shores, was number one for the 8th straight year with $592K in volume).

Greetings from The Grand Strand!

Right on cue, resort condo activity picked up as it always does this time of year. 6 of my oceanfront and resort condo listings sold in the first 14 days of February. From talking to other agents, it seems that real estate in general has ramped up dramatically.

Okay, lots of meaty info in this month’s edition. First, I want to let everyone know that we have completed our 2019 Closed Sales Histories. Each History is presented in a concise spreadsheet format and includes info on all of the closed sales in each year since 2009. For every MLS sale, you can find the closed sales price, asking price, days on the market, closing date, and more. We update these each year. Great for buyers and owners. Here’s an example.

Crescent Shores 2019 Closed Sales History

To sign up for your Closed Sales Histories, click on the following link


And now here is my big 2019 condo sales analysis. Unlike typical broad market analytics which lump all condos together, my analyses isolate oceanfront condos and focus on the details within this hyper local segment of our real estate market. Incidentally, most resort condos (as opposed to condos almost exclusively 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 2003. The volumes have now ramped up three years in a row with 1687 closed sales in 2019, a 6.8% increase over 2018.

Closed Oceanfront Condo Sales by Year

By the way, the number of active oceanfront condo listings at any given time has stayed at about the same level for 10 years – between 950 and 1200. I just checked and, as I am typing this, there are 977 active listings with 206 currently under contract. 

Also, the number of closed sales for all condos (not just oceanfront) increased about 4.5%, from 5846 in 2018 to 6111 in 2019.

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

The average closed sale price increased slightly, from $196,904 to $203,243, a change of 3.2%.

The median closed sale price also increased from $155,000 to $157,000, a change of 2%.

Average Closed Sale Price for Oceanfront Condos

Median Closed Sales Price for Oceanfront Condos

These increases in sales volumes and prices were not spread out evenly throughout our market. The next couple of graphs shed some light as to the segments of the market in which the biggest changes are occurring.


The graph below shows closed oceanfront condo sales since 2014 by price range. For the 6th year in a row, there was a notable decrease in closed sales under $50,000. Frankly, there are very few oceanfront condos left at these prices. Sales volumes increased in just about every other price range with the biggest increases in the $100K-$150K and $250K-$300K ranges.

Oceanfront Closed Condo Sales By Price Range

The following graph shows the number of closed sales versus the number of bedrooms. Nothing unexpected here as there were slight increases distributed pretty evenly among condos with differing numbers of bedrooms with slightly bigger increases for efficiencies and 2BRs.

Oceanfront Closed Condo Sales per # of Bedrooms

The next graph shows cash purchases versus financed purchases by year. As you can see, cash purchases still dominate, representing over 59% of all oceanfront condo sales. The percentage of financed purchases had been increasing but decreased slightly this year. The percentage of “other” methods (mainly owner financing) increased somewhat to make up the difference.

Cash Purchases vs Financed Purchases

The next chart shows the ratio of cash purchases versus financed purchases per price range. As might be expected, the higher the price, the higher the likelihood the purchaser will finance, with financing predominating starting around $300K. Oddly, most of the $400K to $500K sales were purchased with cash. Also, condos on the extreme high end were mainly purchased with cash, as has always been the case.

Oceanfront Condo Purchase Methods by Price Range

The next two tables show the respective numbers of closed sales in selected oceanfront and non-oceanfront developments for the past several years. Generally, the number of sales roughly corresponds to the number of units in a development (the bigger the development, the more transactions). Also, if there is new construction producing new residences, the numbers of sales will be high.

Number of Closed Sales for OF Condos

Number of Closed Sales for Non-of Condos

OK, now for company performance. I really don’t brag about my company enough. It’s phenomenal. The following graphic shows the rankings for all of the real estate firms on the Grand Strand. As you can see in the chart below, my very own RE/MAX Southern Shores, for the 8th straight year, led our market with almost $595 million in sales, $102 million more than the next closest competitor. We also led in number of units sold and average sales price and it wasn’t even close. Keep in mind that, although we are large, several other companies have far more agents. Ours just do a better job for their clients. The second graphic below offers a few facts and figures about the makeup of RE/MAX Southern Shores.

2019 Year in Review

Convenient, Available, Effective 

Well that’s the 2019 oceanfront condo sales report. I always think it’s interesting to look at the stats but please remember that each owner’s and each potential buyer’s situation is unique so please contact me if you’re thinking of buying or selling. I’ll be glad to work with you to develop your personalized plan to sell or to buy.

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

See you at the beach! 

Beach Pro Team Reviews

Here are some "vintage" reviews published in Zillow. 


  • I am a real estate investor and I have been selling and buying real estate in Myrtle Beach for a little over 15 years. With the exception of the first couple of years Gene has been my real estate broker. Gene truly understands the kind of information that an investor needs to have in order to make  a purchase or a sale. Unlike some other agents that we have dealt with Gene knows the numbers and presents them when needed. He also has excellent knowledge of the area including many of the oceanfront condos as well as the local players involved. I would not dip my toe in the real estate market in Myrtle Beach without Gene by my side. Mike. Monterey Bay. Myrtle Beach. Dec. 2017.

  • We made our original purchase by using Gene as our agent.  Based on his professionalism and thorough understanding of the real estate market in Myrtle Beach we turned to Gene to sell our property.  We highly recommend him as a highly skilled real estate professional who works hard for his clients and gets the best results. Ron and Nancy. Sea Watch. Myrtle Beach.Nov. 2017.


We have chosen to utilize Zillow's review platform. This is not an endorsement of Zillow (Please ignore the ridiculous "Zestimates") but we think an online third-party review service provides more credibility than simply printing reviews ourselves. At this time, we have over 80 reviews with more coming in each month. To see all of the reviews at any time, you can visit Zillow Beach Pro Team reviews. 

Grand Strand Market Report


Below is a link to a detailed report on the current state of our local real estate market complete with statistics for just about anything imaginable. Please keep in mind that these statistics cover a broad range of properties and that particular areas or developments may behave quite differently.  

As always please contact me if I can be of service in any way.

See link below to interpret terms used in this report.


Grand Strand Market Report - December 2019

Best Buys


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