Greetings from the Grand Strand
I guess it's obvious at this point that this will be a combined March and April newsletter. This is the big, comprehensive 2015 oceanfront condo sales analysis. Hopefully it was worth the wait! Last year, I included a loooong article with lots of charts and my detailed analysis of the previous year's oceanfront condo sales (2014). I am simplifying matters this year. The same charts, with 2015 data added, are included in the body of this newsletter. There are also links to full size versions of the same charts. This time, I have added only a few comments.
Before I get to that, I want to address another matter. A number of readers have sent me emails asking about the alleged water quality issues in the Myrtle Beach area.
Apparently, there have been some online reports which erroneously state that the water in the Myrtle Beach area is unsafe to swim in. The reports are based on the fact that there are permanent signs in some areas which advise swimmers not to frolic in the water directly in front of the storm drains immediately after heavy storms. Well Duh! For more details on this and the local Chamber of Commerce's efforts to combat these "reports",
'MB Chamber blitz on water quality rumors' (3/30/16 Sun News).
By the way,
the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach are both making long-term (and very expensive) investments to do away with the storm drains altogether. They are building structures called outfalls. Each outfall takes all of the water from a number of storm drains, filters it somewhat and then pumps it 1000 or more feet out to sea where it dissipates harmlessly away from the beach. These outfall projects typically cost tens of millions of dollars apiece and take several years to complete. For more info,
'MB ocean outfall project done by May' (4/4/16 Sun News)
Now, back to the 2015 oceanfront condo sales. Basically, 2015 was a continuation of what we've seen for the last several years. As you can see on the chart below, there were 1223 closed oceanfront condo sales in 2015. There have been approximately 1200 sales per year for six years in a row now (since 2010) - give or take 100 or so. This is remarkably consistent. Part of the reason is probably that there have been no new buildings added in that time so the total inventory of existing oceanfront condos has remained constant.
The next two charts show average closed sale prices and median closed sale prices. Average sale prices remained unchanged while average sale prices increased by about $13,000 from 2014 to 2015. The fact that the average went up while the median did not indicates that there were at least a few very high end sales to pull up the average.
Median Closed Sale Prices for Oceanfront Condos
The next two charts show sales by price range and number of bedrooms. 2015 figures generally follow the same patterns we have been seeing for years. In particular, they were virtually identical to the 2013 figures.
The next chart shows the percentages of cash purchases versus financed purchases. The majority of the purchasers in 2015 still paid cash but the percentage of financed sales has continued to climb as condo and condotel financing has become more readily available.
The next two charts show the respective numbers of closed sales in selected oceanfront and non-oceanfront condominium developments. Again, there were no remarkable changes. Sales in some developments were up, others down, but, generally speaking, the numbers of sales correlated with the size of the developments (lots of condos in the development - lots of sales, not many condos in a development - not many sales).
Finally, this last chart shows the office rankings for the Grand Strand. As you can see, RE/MAX Southern Shores, my new company, led the area (for the 4th year in a row) with over $322 million in total sales volume, representing 1775 closed sides.
Overall, this may seem a bit boring - no dramatic ups and downs. There are, however, subtle trends within specific buildings and specific types of properties. Please contact me if you are thinking of buying or selling or just want to know what is going on in your development or one of interest to you.
That's it for now. All the usual reports are included as well as this month's Best buys.
Come see me at the beach!
This monthly newsletter feature shares press releases that caught my eye in the previous month. 