2013 Sun City Year-in-Review Jan 2014 | Page 8

state of the sun city market home sales 597 The number of closed Home sales in Sun city jumped by an impressive 28% in 2013, resulting in nearly 600 transactions recorded in the Hilton Head MLS. After bottoming out back in 2009, the number of Home sales has been steadily on the rise ever since with 2011 and 2013 showing the largest year-over-year gains in recent market-history. Of interest, the months of June, August and September 2013 were far and away the strongest closing months with 63, 73, and 54 closed Home sales respectively, showing us that summertime is a HOT market for Sun City. Also of note, though perhaps not surprising, 98% of the closed Home sales took place in Sun City Hilton Head proper, while the remaining 2% occurred in the Riverbend neighborhood. In Sun City Hilton Head proper, sales were spread out nicely throughout the community, and it is interesting to see the breakdown by “model” in the graph to the right… 466 392 282 247 234 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 average sales price The Average Sales Price of Homes sold in Sun City in 2013 increased sharply over the prior year, landing at just under $240,000! Hand-inhand with this terrific increase, there was also an important increase in the sales-to-list-price ratio in 2013. On average, Homes in Sun City sold for 97% of their list price last year, up significantly from the 94% average in 2012. This translated roughly into an additional $7,000 that Home sellers earned for their Home sale in 2013. And, as indicated below, with Homes selling, on average, a month faster than in 2012, the reduced carrying costs for Home sellers made 2013 an even more attractive year to sell property. Lastly, it is particularly encouraging to note that the number of Home sales OVER $300,000 in 2013 NEARLY DOUBLED from 2012, posting 135 transactions with sales prices ranging from $300,000 up to $1,125,000! $245,000 $240,000 $235,000 $230,000 $225,000 $220,000 $215,000 $210,000 $205,000 $200,000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 139 average days on market With the impressive year of sales last year in Sun City, it is not surprising to see a substantial drop in the average time it took Homes to sell in 2013. With a year-end average of 59 days, Homes sold over a full month faster than they did in 2012. While the overall market showed a decrease in the Average Days on Market, the more-robust micro-market of Sun City “blew away” the market with this impressive decrease last year. Yet, with all that said, it remains clear in today’s market that competitive-pricing remains a key factor in a property’s timely sale-ability, as there are curren ѱ䁄)