March another good month for Grand Strand real estate
The Grand Strand real estate market remained strong in March, with overall sales up 5.2 percent versus a year earlier and the median sales price climbing to $189,227, a 3.7 percent increase compared to March 2014, according to SiteTech Systems.
Condo sales continued to show signs of an improving market, with a gain of 10 percent in the number sold from March 2014 to March this year. Condo inventory continues to decline, another good sign, and the median sales price rose 6 percent from March 2014 to $114,450.
Residential lot sales were up 41 percent in March, a recovery from a couple of slow months, but median price was still down 10 percent to $48,000 compared to a year earlier, according to SiteTech.
Contact STEVE JONES at 444-1765 or on Twitter @TSN_SteveJones.
Key points
▪ The largest sales gains, 18.6 percent from March 2014 to March 2015, were in the $150,000 to $200,000 price range
▪ New home sales accounted for about 30 percent of overall activity, a ratio that has remained fairly constant for a year or more
▪ Closed sales for homes and condos selling for less than $100,000 declined 4 percent in a 12-month rolling total compiled by 10K Marketing. Those costing more than $300,000 increased by 14.2 percent.
▪ Days on market before a sale declined slightly for single-family homes when compared to March 2014 while they inched up by two days for condos.
▪ There were 200 more single-family home and 100 more condo sales pending in March than the same month a year earlier.
Sources | 10K Marketing and SiteTech Systems
Trends
▪ Three-bedroom, single-family homes costing between $200,000 and $300,000 got the highest percentage of asking price at closing.
▪ The Aynor area saw a 166.7 percent increase in new listings in March but a 66.7 percent decline in sales. The percentages are impressive, but the numbers give a clearer picture: 16 new listings in March this year versus six last year, two sales this March versus six in March 2014.
▪ Sales in Carolina Forest and Myrtle Beach, formerly two of the area’s hottest markets, declined, respectively, 31.3 percent and 19.6 percent over a year earlier and slowed to 4.8 percent gain in North Myrtle Beach.
▪ The March hotties when comparing sales in March 2015 versus March 2014: Surfside Beach, up 16.7 percent; Garden City/Murrells Inlet, up 52.4 percent; Pawleys Island/Litchfield, up 57.1 percent; Socastee, up 88.9 percent.
Source | 10K Marketing
“The pending numbers particularly were very good. Prices keep heading in the right direction and time on market is ticking down ever so slightly.”
Laura Crowther, CEO, Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors
This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "March another good month for Grand Strand real estate."