Myrtle Beach area home sales climb nearly 18 percent this year

Single-family home sales in the Myrtle Beach area rose 1.8 percent last month over October 2014 purchases and saw a healthy increase of 17.7 percent over the past year.

“It’s truly definite evidence that we’ve come out of the housing downturn here,” said Todd Woodard, president of Site Tech Systems that produced the Grand Strand market report.

“Home sales have definitely picked up, new construction is picking up, and resales are very good. It’s going to be a good year,” Woodard said.

Some Realtors say the severe weather experienced in early October could have caused a decline in purchases for single family homes. The September report shows sales had increased nearly 10 percent over that same month in 2014.

“I think what happened is the flood had something to do with what was happening,” said Marvin Heyd, owner of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. “People were a little worried about what was happening along the coast.”

“It was just a downturn, I think November is looking to be really good,” Heyd said.

Also, new federal requirements under the Dodd-Frank financial law that took effect Oct. 3 was expected to extend closing dates well beyond the typical 30 days.

The uncertainty of the new regulations prompted many Realtors to schedule closings earlier in September instead of October, Heyd said.

“We’ll have to get used to the Dodd-Frank Act – yes, it’s going to complicate periods of closing and in some cases we’ll have to start over, but we will get through this, we will adjust to it,” Heyd said.

The law aimed at banking reform impacted the real estate industry with new requirements for loan disclosures on interest rates and certain penalties, and allows for a waiting period for consumers to study new mortgages.

“That delayed a lot of deals, it created more red tape we had to go through,” said Blake Sloan with the Sloan Realty Group. “It pushed into November what was supposed to close in October.”

Condominium sales saw an 8.3 percent climb in October over the previous year, with year-to-date sales up more than 10 percent. Sales of residential lots spiked nearly 19 percent last month over the previous October.

Realtors say that the inventory of property available plus the reported 10 percent increase of median sale prices in October for new construction and resale activity is a strong indicator that the market is recovering at a steady rate in the Myrtle Beach area. That’s opposed to states like California, Colorado and Texas where inventories are limited while prices are quickly climbing.

“The good news for our market is home prices don’t seem to be bubbling at all,” Woodard said. “I don’t see any signs of an artificial bubble.”

Added Sloan: “Now, 17 percent sales are out-pacing inventory, which is driving prices up -- it’s great news for homeowners and great news locally. Our recovery is not out of control. (Other states) are seeing bubbling numbers but here it is a sustained recovery.”

Audrey Hudson 843-444-1765

@AudreyHudson

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach area home sales climb nearly 18 percent this year."