Homes in Myrtle Beach area keep on selling October real estate sales on the Grand Strand continued the upward swing of the past few months with a record percentage of properties purchased by cash buyers. Single-family home sales increased 8 percent and condominium sales were up 31 percent compared with the same month last year, according to statistics compiled Tuesday from the Multiple Listing Service. October was the fourth month with some increases in the real estate market and the second month of consistent increases in both the condo and single-family home markets. If there is another month with similar results then Tom Maeser, a research analyst for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors, said he could call it a trend. About 41 percent of real estate buyers in October paid in cash, one of the highest percentages ever, according to Maeser. About 47 percent used conventional financing and the remaining 12 percent used other financing, including Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs and owner financing. Cash buyers historically make up about 15 percent of the market. "Everything in real estate eventually falls to price, and the prices are just so good now people are actually making decisions to buy," Maeser said. Home prices continued to drop last month, but Maeser said he doesn't expect them to sink much lower. The median price - the price at which half sold for more and half sold for less - of single-family homes was $168,000, down 12 percent from the same month last year. The median condo price was down 10 percent to $131,000, a smaller decline than the 35 percent drop in price reported last year. Maeser said the first sign that prices will increase will be a decline in the percentage that prices are dropping, like the market saw with condo sales last month. Mark Branstrom, the senior vice president of Bank of America Home Loans, said that mortgage lending conditions don't have anything to do with the reason there are so many cash buyers, but added that today's mortgage process can be taxing. "It's frustrating and harder because of the documentation required," he said. "The end result is you still get a loan." A borrower has to thoroughly document income and have a good credit score and it may take time but they get a loan, Branstrom said. Bank of America and other banks are offering fewer types of loans than they did a few years ago, he said. People can no longer get loans on lots or condo-hotels because there is no one to buy them in the secondary market, Branstrom said. Where the bank is lending a lot is for FHA, VA and first-time buyer mortgages, he said. |