What’s going on with the market?
What’s going on with interest rates?
Is now a good time to sell?
How can I get the most money out of my home when I sell it?
What is going on with lake property?
The Midlands real estate market continues to be strong compared to many areas of the country. In spite of fears a year ago (or the last five years for that matter) of an impending real estate “crash”, our market continues to be healthy with regard to home values. Real estate is local, so what you hear on the national news or watch on YouTube about some realtor in Orlando forecasting their local market doesn’t necessarily apply here.
South Carolina remains in the top five states in the country for people to relocate to. This means that demand remains high for our real estate here. According to the National Association of Realtors, South Carolina was fourth in the nation in 2022 in domestic net migration (a gain of 84,000 residents) with Florida, Texas and North Carolina holding the top three spots. (FYI- California, New York and Illinois were the bottom three).
Our market continues to lack inventory with the latest reports showing less than two months inventory. Economists generally say a balanced market is more like six months. In my opinion, this inventory shortage is the main factor we haven’t seen much price pressure on homes as expected in our area.
Median home prices did peak in June of 2022 and they declined until February of 2023. There was a near 10% reduction in value during that period. However, since then prices have rebounded back to where peak pricing levels were a year ago.
The huge issue in real estate in the last year is the rise of interest rates. We continue to see rates in the 7% range which has sidelined a large percentage of buyers thus taking the number of sales down almost 25% compared to this time last year. Homeowners are also waiting to sell their homes because they have such a low interest rate on their current mortgage and don’t want to jump into a new mortgage with today’s rates.
It is our hope we will see some relief in this area by year end with rates normalizing somewhere south of 6% (We have our fingers crossed!). If or when this happens, we predict a floodgate of pent-up demand to be unleashed potentially resulting in even higher prices and less inventory.
What about Lake Murray specifically?
We at The Downing Group sell so much Lake Murray and luxury real estate, we are always in touch with the health of that market. Inventory has crept up slightly compared to a year ago and days on market has also increased a little. This market has softened a bit with less available buyers because of higher interest rates and general fears of what lies ahead with our economy. Year to date, Lake Murray prices through June appear to be off about 10-15% compared to June 2022, while number of sales are mirroring the overall Midlands market and are down about 25% compared to this time last year.
If you have questions about our market or your specific situation, please reach out to us at 803-381-8950.
The Downing Group
One Harbison Way, Suite 115
Columbia, SC 29212
thedowningteam.com
South Carolina remains in the top five states to attract new residents.
