A reader from Georgia wrote us today that his search for a vacation home in a southern golf community is on hold indefinitely “unless I see prices on a rapid escalation.”
"Rapid escalation," of course, is a relative term, and we are on safe ground testifying that prices for golf community properties will not rise as fast as they fell in most markets. In Naples, Fl, for example, where prices dropped as much as 50% and more in two years, they have now climbed back only about halfway in the last couple of years.
Champion Hills in Hendersonville, NC, is member-owned and debt-free, and having its best real estate sales year since 2006. Prices are up 8.5% compared with last year.
But prices will rise in the coming few years, barring any unexpected hit to the U.S. economy. Indeed, the real estate professionals in the southern U.S. we regularly contact are already seeing much more traffic to their offices over recent months. The only thing to keep prices from rising in the face of increased demand is if inventory rises to meet it, and we are not seeing that. Those folks who were forced to sell by virtue of their financial situations or health have, for the most part, already put their homes on the market.
The experience of the real estate office at The Landings, just outside Savannah, GA, is indicative. The office is having its best year since 2006.
“Pricing remains a mixed bag,” says Bill Houghton, president of The Landings Company, “but the ratio of sold price versus original listed price is at a three-year high.” Home sales at The Landings through mid-November were already double those of the full year of 2009; Houghton says his office’s 108 homebuyers exceeded the total for the full year of 2007.
According to real estate web site Trulia.com, prices in the popular Asheville, NC, market increased 12.4% year over year during the September to November time period, with the
“People have a perception that prices have now hit bottom,” says Prudential Realtor Joe Pelletiere, “and they understand that Champion Hills is member-owned and debt free. You don’t see much of that combination in western North Carolina of safety, [comparatively] low prices and a great golf course.” (For a sample of some of the current 35 golf homes for sale in Champion Hills, click here.)
Of course, all real estate is local, and not all markets move in tandem with each other. Myrtle Beach, arguably the golf capital of the east coast, continues to suffer from selling prices for single-family homes that are significantly lower than those of 2010 and 2011. For example, the average sales price in 2010 was just under $232,000 through September; the 2012 year to date comparison is just over $215,000. The median price for a Myrtle Beach area condo so far this year is just $104,000, compared with $120,000 in 2010. However, despite the thousands of homes for sale in Myrtle Beach, the culprit behind the soft prices, the total number of homes on the market is still lower than last year, and closed sales of condos in Myrtle Beach are up 8.6% over 2011.
The condos that line the right side of the 15th hole at Pawleys Plantation start in the mid $200s. Other villas in the popular community are listed as low as $129,000.
If demand continues and the inventory becomes further absorbed, look for real estate prices in Myrtle Beach to rise as well, possibly by the end of next year. Price levels now make even second home ownership look quite attractive. In the popular Pawleys Plantation, in the quieter south end of the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach, 21 single-family homes are currently on the market, with prices ranging from $250,000 for a two-bedroom "patio" home to $775,000 for the spacious home on the 14th fairway that was built originally for Jack Nicklaus to use when he built the golf course in the late 1980s. The 26 condos currently on the market in Pawleys Plantation range from $110,000 for a two-bedroom that would be perfect for visiting golfers to $370,000 for a newer unit on the 15th hole. For a selection of current properties and golf homes for sale in Pawleys Island, click here.
We don't think it is ever smart to try to "time the market," but there is a growing sense among baby boomers who have been waiting to relocate to warmer weather that prices have just about reached their bottom. Those who pull the trigger and head south soon to a life of warmer weather, a lower cost of living and year-round golf could eventually encounter a nice extra bonus of price appreciation. Please contact us if you would like to discuss your own situation or would like to be put in touch with one of the many real estate professionals we work with in the southern U.S.