Real Estate sales along The Grand Strand rose 10.2 percent in February, to 541, compared to last year, significantly out pacing state wide sales which increased 4.8 percent. But prices continued to fall, 2.2 percent but compared to a state with increase of 2.6 percent. However, if you look at other areas in the state, we're doing better--Aiken dropped 18.1 percent, Greenwood dropped 17.3 percent, the Piedmont region fell 15 percent and north Augusta fell 13.3 percent. The median price of a house or a condo along the Strand fell to $135,000.
What are we likely to see going forward? --more of the same as the area works through a back log of foreclosures and a short sales. Then there is the shadow inventory--houses not on the market, but whose owners want to sell. Some are owned by banks and will hit the market as the foreclosure process is completed while others are owned by individuals waiting for the market to improve.
When can we see prices firming? Probably not until 2014. When can we expect to see prices increasing? Even further out and then nothing like the boom years 2000-2006. When prices start to increase again, they're likely to pace the rate of inflation, 2-3 percent a year.
Bottom line: A buyer's market for the next few years.
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