Grand Strand real estate sales slid again in November, a possible cause for concern, but single-family home prices continued to rise, showing signs of stability, according to data released Friday.
Single family home sales fell 34 percent in November when compared to the same month last year, according to the Multiple Listing Service. Condo sales dropped 18 percent in November from the same month a year ago.
"It's starting to get to the point that you have to worry that sales are slowing down for a reason," said Tom Maeser, a real estate analyst for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors.
When sales dropped last month, Realtors and experts said it was a result of several factors including a rush last year to buy before the home buyer tax credit expired, uncertainty surrounding the election and foreclosure problems. The continued drop might not be able to be explained away in the same way, Maeser said.
Some Realtors were not concerned about the drop in sales and didn't see it as an indication of more troubles ahead.
"I don't see concern in that it's off, that it's something drastic, that it's not going to come up next year," said Marvin Heyd, the owner of Prudential Myrtle Beach Real Estate.
Heyd said the market is typically slow in November and that last year's sales were boosted by the home buyer tax credit.
Drew Streett, a Realtor at Garden City Realty and the regional vice president for South Carolina Realtors, said the drop in sales is not uncommon in an election year when there is uncertainty about who will be elected and how the new government will work, he said.
"I don't think it's something to be concerned about. A lot of people in October and November were waiting to see how the election would play out, now they're waiting a little," he said. "I feel like the spring, the end of 2011 is going to pick right back up."
Penny Boling, the broker-in-charge of Century 21 Boling and Associates, said that last year at this time buyers were going after any property with a low price and this year they are being more selective, which may be part of the reason sales are down.
"I think last November was just heating up with foreclosures and the short sales and people were buying anything," she said. "We've cleaned the market up a little bit."
Maeser said that foreclosures have been driving sales - about a third of all properties sold are either foreclosures or short sales - and that delays as banks halted foreclosure sales could have contributed to the decline in sales. Sales could also be lower because the best deals were bought quickly, leaving fewer of the low-priced properties available, he said.
The number of single-family homes on the market was down to 5,861 from about 6,200 last year and the number of condos on the market dropped from 6,186 to 5,248 last month, according to the MLS.
The inventory has dropped because buyers have bought low-priced properties but also because some sellers, who don't have to sell now, have taken their homes off the market, Heyd said.
Single-family home prices went up 5 percent in November, when compared to the same month last year, continuing a trend of small gains. Condo prices continued to drop and were down 6 percent last month from November 2009, according to the MLS.
Foreclosures are more of a problem in the condo market than they are in the single-family home market, which is part of the reason home prices are stabilizing, Maeser said.
Boling said that certain neighborhoods and resorts have stabilized but the lack of financing on oceanfront financing continues to push prices on those properties down.
Those properties are largely being purchased by investors who are paying in cash, she said.
About 49 percent of buyers paid with cash in November, with 44 percent using traditional financing and the others using programs through the Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Affairs to pay for their purchases.
"There's a lot of buyers out there that still have a lot of cash. I don't think we've tapped that resource yet," Boling said.
Streett said he's not worried about the number of cash buyers, or that their money will dry up because they continue to go to his company looking to buy property.
"To carry us through the short-term, yes, I think it's very sustainable," he said.
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