Welcome to the Collins Group Realty June 2013 Market Update

Mid-Year Market UpdateState of the Greater HHI Market

From 20,000 Feet:

A wise agent once said It’s only a Buyer’s Market until two buyers want the same house…then it’s a Seller’s Market!

It’s hard to say what is the absolutely-perfect recipe for a Seller’s Market in real estate, but it seems pretty clear that it would include these essential ingredients:

*          Increasing Transactions

*          Increasing Average Selling Prices

*          Increasing Sales Price/List Price Ratio

*          Declining Inventory

*          Declining Time Required on the Market to Sell

And, it seems reasonable to assume that the following additional ingredients would yield an even “tastier” marketplace from a Seller’s perspective:

*          Multiple-Bid Scenarios

*          Back-Up Offer Scenarios

*          Rising Interest Rates

*          Declining Short-Sales and Foreclosures

*          Increasing High-End Sales

The EXCITING NEWS about the greater Hilton Head/Bluffton marketplace is that 2013 has delivered ALL of these – some in pretty impressive quantities!  And, with all the key ingredients present, the last necessary component to produce a Seller’s Market  is TIME.  In fact, in some specific pockets of the local marketplace, time has already produced a clear and present Seller’s Market with low inventory, high demand, escalating prices, and so many of the other savory conditions that were prevalent in our market not all that long ago.  Meanwhile, other segments of the marketplace don’t quite have the full, necessary mix of ingredients yet…but just as a rising tide floats all boats, we equally expect current market trends to yield vastly improved conditions throughout the entire local marketplace – it’s only a matter of TIME.

The Specifics:

Consider the following statistics for the greater Hilton Head/Bluffton marketplace through 6/30/13:

*          The number of Homes sold in 2013 (annualized) is UP 10% over 2012! (See Graph A)

*          The number of Lots sold in 2013 (annualized) is UP a whopping 22% over 2012! (See Graph B)

*          The market-area average Sales Price/List Price ratio is 96%!

*          Bank-Involved transactions (Short Sales and Foreclosures) have DROPPED ONE-THIRD since 2011, now only accounting for 24% of Home sales, 23% of Villa sales, and 28% of lot sales! (See Graph D)

*          The average selling price of sold Homes, Villas and Lots all INCREASED in 2013 over 2012! (See Graph C)

*          The average time for property to sell has DECREASED nearly across the board, with homes selling in 122 days, villas selling in 164 days, and lots dropping from 508 days in 2012 to 310 days in 2013! (See Graph E)

From the Front-Line:

2013 has been a record-year for us at Collins Group Realty, resulting in our earning the #1 production spot in our marketplace.  Through the end of June 2013, we had the honor of assisting 153 clients sell and/or purchase over $51 Million in real estate across the market area.  Further, as the market continues to shift, we have had to re-hone our negotiating skills to navigate multiple-bid scenarios, back-up offers, above-list-price transactions and many more tactics/situations that had up until this year more or less been “things of the past.”  It has been exciting, challenging, and rewarding to help so many during these exciting times, all the while continuing to earn “Excellent” ratings from our client-family.

Balance-of-the-Year Outlook:

Given that our predictions for 2013 as a whole have already “come true,” we are feeling confident that the balance of the year should continue to yield more of the same positive trends.  We expect short-sale and foreclosure sales to continue to decline, perhaps at an even sharper rate.  We expect to see increasing signs of price-appreciation in a more wide-spread area of the market.  And we anticipate an acceleration in the number of transactions as the year goes on.  In short, we expect more good things to come, and we will certainly be doing our part to help make that a reality.