Money Magazine says Myrtle
Beach area single-family home prices will jump 8.4 percent over the next
year - an increase that puts the Grand Strand 31st in the United States for
price increases.
Analysts say the high ranking shows that Grand Strand real estate is finally
being recognized by national media.
"It's about time," said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real
Estate.
Last year, Myrtle Beach area prices increased 18.7 percent, according to the
magazine's study.
Money asked forecasters at Fiserv Lending Solutions and Moody's Economy.com
to evaluate 380 markets and rank them by expected future price growth.
The trend: If it was hot before, it won't be in the future. Las Vegas, one
of the nation's hottest markets in the last few years, is predicted to see a
3.5 percent drop in prices.
At the top of the list is Panama City, Fla., with a projected 21 percent
increase.
Myrtle Beach is the only metro area in the Carolinas to make the top 40.
Wilmington is next, coming in at 47th with a forecasted price increase of 7
percent.
Maeser said he agrees with the forecasted 8 percent increase in
single-family homes.
"The first quarter showed about 8 percent, so it is tracking in that
direction. The only variable to that is we are seeing an increase in
upper-bracket [priced] homes, and you don't have to build a lot of those to
have an impact [on the median price]," he said.
Nationwide, single-family home prices will rise 3.5 percent between now and
June 2007, according to the forecast. That's under the 10 percent annual
rate of the past five years.
The study says Myrtle Beach-area median price increased 51 percent in five
years.
Maeser said the past two years of that were a "catching-up period" that has
brought Strand prices to a more competitive range to other areas.
Home, condo sales slow
Home and condominium sales along the S.C. coast and midlands slowed in April
compared with last year. The Grand Strand had a 12 percent drop in sales and
Hilton Head saw a 53 percent fall, according to the S.C. Association of
Realtors.
The Columbia area had a 7 percent drop and Charleston had a 6.5 percent
decline.
The Upstate and rural areas are booming - with Greenville reporting a 12
percent jump in sales and Aiken having a 34 percent sales increase.
Stabilization along the coast is causing growth in rural and undervalued
areas of the state, according to the association. S.C. home sales in April
dropped 5 percent from last year.
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Contact JENNY BURNS at 626-0305 or jeburns@thesunnews.com. |
