Buyers and sellers need to understand what’s happening in our market.
“What’s happening in our real estate market?” People ask me this all the time, and I understand why. Things have changed a lot in our area recently, so today, I’ll share the latest numbers with you.
Here’s the short version: Single-family home sales are down, but prices are actually up a little bit. Specifically, single-family sales are down 28.1% year over year. In October 2022, we had 477 home sales, while in October 2021, we had 592.
As I mentioned, the good news is that prices remain high despite decreasing sales. The median price in October 2022 was $359,577, which is actually 12% higher than it was this time last year. In fact, prices are even up month over month; in September, the median price was $356,000. The average sales price was $454,000 in October 2022, which is also a 12% increase year over year.
Why are prices increasing despite decreasing home sales? This phenomenon could be due to our extremely limited supply. Inventory has increased 53% year over year, but that still only leaves us with 2.3 months of supply. This means that if no new homes entered the market, it would take about 2.3 months for all of them to sell at our current pace. For reference, six months of inventory is considered a balanced market, and anything less than that favors sellers.
“Typical agents are running scared from this market, but our team is doubling down.”
This is one of the main reasons why our market is completely different from 2008: We have yet to reach the amount of inventory we had before the pandemic. The number of new listings hitting our market is down 24% year over year. In fact, there were only 554 new listings in all of Grand Strand in October. 814 in June 2022 was the peak for new listings.
While low supply is currently protecting home prices, we aren’t sure how long it will last. A lot of investors are cashing out near the peak of the market while they can. One indicator of a slowing market is that condo sales are down 39% year over year. The condo market is usually affected before single-family homes, so this could indicate where things are heading. Despite this, condo prices also remain high; they were up 19.5% year over year in October 2022.
Generally, our market still has high demand. Investors still want to purchase in our area, and people are still moving here from all over the country. To help buyers, our team has had to get a little creative by getting sellers to agree to pay for 2-1 buydowns. This helps buyers lower their interest rates, and we can often negotiate so that there is no upfront cost. Typical agents are running scared from this market, but our team is doubling down.
Just take our website, for example. We currently have 69,935 active and registered buyers who trust us to help them purchase a home. We outspend your run-of-the-mill agent 100 to one on marketing, and it pays off. Since we’re made up of a team of specialists, each member has one job they understand inside and out. This way, you get the absolute best in every aspect of your home purchase or sale.
You deserve the best, especially in this market. You can click here for a free home valuation and here for a home search in Grand Strand. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call us. We are always willing to help.
