Buyer / Seller Standoff in Myrtle Beach
IT’S AN OLD-FASHIONED STANDOFF… with large inventories, picky buyers and frustrated sellers.
• Sellers don’t want to give away their property - but that’s exactly what buyers are itching for them to do.
• Buyers, on the hunt for slashed prices, great deals and the best price tag in the subdivision, are being patient - because they can - with a huge amount of inventory on the market
RESALE PRICES… on condominiums and townhomes have dropped since last year, but single-family prices are showing gains.
• Sales are down from last year… falling 59 percent for resale condos and 33 percent for single-family homes in Horry County.
• The median price - meaning half sold for more and half sold for less - of resale condominiums dropped 5 percent in the first quarter of 2007 from $178,350 last year to $169,000 this year in Horry County. Resale townhomes also dropped 9 percent to $135,000 from $148,000.
• Yet resale single-family homes are still inching up - increasing 9 percent to $205,000.
RESALE MARKET HIT HARDEST… “As we continue going through this period of correction, it’s hitting the resale market much harder,” said Don Schunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University.
• That’s because builders are able to offer free TVs, upgrades or no payments for a year to get buyers interested. New home sales are dropping by smaller margins than resales.
• Sellers are wrestling with how much they can afford to cut their home price versus having to rent the home out and risk it being damaged.
BUYERS EYE PRICE DROPS… Buyers are expecting a discount and making offers below list price.
• Buyers are more educated now than ever. They know value.
• Buyers are waiting for prices to go down.
• Buyers are looking for bargains.
THE NEW MARKET… sellers are in competition with builders and their neighbors. Sellers have to monitor what local builders are doing - and their fellow sellers - to keep their prices right.
• Sellers who bought homes a few years ago still have gains.
• Sellers who bought over the last 18 months will do well to break even.
THE MARKET CHANGED QUICKLY… Two years ago, there were 3,036 homes on the market on the Strand. Today, there’s 6,450, according to the Multiple Listing Service for Horry and Georgetown counties. That doesn’t count the number of houses for sale by owners not using agents.
WHAT’S TO COME… The first quarter statistics, with its large sales drops and price declines, were worse than anticipated.
• The single-family market is expected to stabilize by year end.
• The condo market looks like it will continue to slide… because of the larger imbalance of inventory.
Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC
