The beginning of February, our Broker pulled statistics for North Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Condo pending Sales. Much to our surprise, that number was 24%...... Wow, 24% of our current inventory was Pending a sale (having Contracts to purchase in place) Our average number is normally 2.5%, so you can see that a Tenfold increase is a big deal considering how tough the market has been lately.

                My major concern with this information was that the majority of these offers were contingent on Financing (meaning the buyers are applying with a Lender and the offer is only accepted if they are approved) So, out of that 24% of pending sales, how many will actually close?

                The increasing restrictions that Lenders are placing on Financing Investment Property, 2^nd homes or even  a regular purchase are making it harder and harder for people to buy. The interest to buy may be there, but the money is becoming increasingly harder to come by. Take an example: Want to buy a Condo in Myrtle Beach, SC? Oceanfront, Oceanview or even Second Row condos  require quite a bit from you before you will be approved to Finance your new property. First, prepared yourself to put anywhere from 25% to 50% of the Purchase price as a Down Payment. Second, the Money used as a Down Payment, typically, must be seasoned (have been sitting in an Account of yours) for well over 60 days. You will need to have a Credit Score very close to 700 or even better and they will prefer you to have had Liquid assets(Money in Checking /Saving Accounts, 401Ks, Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds or IRAs) in your account for 12 months or longer. The days of 100% financing for investors is very long gone!!

Let’s go over some figures..    All these figures below are based on  Oceanfront Condos only!! The main reason for that, is simply that Oceanfront properties set the tone for our market. Let's face it, that where everyone wants to be and the reason your looking here!!

• Current number of Active Listings for sale: 474   Avg.  Which is  28% of our Whole Associations inventory

• Current number of Listings that are Pending a Sale: 111                    That’s 23% of our Inventory

• Current number of Condos that have Sold since Jan.1^st : 20              That’s only 4% !!! Ouch!

Now, lets pull Statistics for the Entire Grand Strand  ( from Georgetown up to North Myrtle Beach)

•  Current Active Listings for sale:   1675

•  Current number of Listings Pending a Sale:  143                    This is 9% of the Inventory

•   Current number of Condos that have Sold since Jan. 1st:   45       This is 3% of our full inventory

Next, let's pull the Myrtle Beach Proper area only (majority of our Condo market share at 60%)

•    Current Active Listings for sale:    1008

•    Current number of Listings Pending a Sale:     27      That is only 3% 

•    Current number of  Condos that have Sold since Jan. 1st:       24    That is only 2% 

    Now, after pulling all the Statistics above, I thought it would interesting to see what numbers were like in past years. What I found was that we were seeing prices on Oceanfront condos reverting back to 2003 . That is a major shift in Market values and an even larger buying opportunity. Take a look at what I found:

• Jan-Feb.2009 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$192,119    Avg Sold Price: $176,399
  • There is an 8% difference in price between Listed and Sold
• Jan-Feb. 2003 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$165,712   Avg. Sold Price:$159,433
  • There is only a 4% difference between Listed and Sold
    • Roughly, comparing 2003 to 2009 , Avg. List prices are only different by 13% ; Sold Prices were off by 10% . Those are small margins considering how high prices were in 2005-2006

• Jan-Feb. 2005 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$247,824   Avg. Sold Price:$243,626
  • Only 2% difference between Listed and Sold prices
    •  
      • The Avg. Sold price Soared  53%!!! from 03
• Jan-Feb. 2006 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$271,709   Avg. Sold Price:$267,932
  • Just  1.3% difference
    •  
      • The Avg. Sold price increased another 10%!!  from 05
•  Jan-Feb. 2007 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$330,617   Avg. Sold Price:$312,114
  • Here we see a Difference of 6%!
    •  
      • The Increase from 06 to 07 was yet another 16%!!
• Jan-Feb. 2008 Myrtle Beach Area Avg. List price:$262,048   Avg. Sold Price:$239,642
  • With the prices just now being to fall, the difference is 9%!
    • For the first time in Seven Years, we see a decrease of 23%!!!  from 07 to 08
      

•  
  •  The Average Sold price increase from 03 to 05 was  53%!! , 03 to 06 was 68%!!   03 to 07  was a whopping   96%!!!! HUGE    
  • Looking  from 03 to 08 we see a change of  only 50%!! and  to come full circle, form 03 to 09 we see it just at  11%!!!
    

Yep, it's official! We have certainly come full circle in prices!!  The question that will continue to be on everyones mind is, how much more will prices continue to drop?  How much longer do you think you should wait??

 Well, if you are still waiting to see if the prices will drop any further? Be careful, if you wait too much longer, you very well may miss the boat and find yourself in that large category of people who will have said