SC sees record number of mortgage applications, highest credit scores ever in 2020

By Donovan Harris

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — If you have been trying to buy a house over the last year, you may have run into some challenges.

A Grand Strand realtor said there have been challenges for everyone in the real estate market over the last year. In fact, she said it’s been the strangest time in her career of more than a decade.

“Since COVID, a lot of people realized where they live is really, really important,” said Watermark Real Estate Group’s Broker and Owner Radha Herring.

The pandemic shifted the way people work and go to school.

The Pew Research Center finds more than half of workers said they would want to keep working from home even after the pandemic.

“The pandemic has raised awareness of what people want in a home and where they want to live,” Herring said.

She said she’s seen the increased demand first-hand with a lot of people moving from states that had stricter COVID-19 guidelines. “They’re coming to South Carolina because we were not completely shut down during the pandemic,” Herring said.

The 12-year real estate veteran said many transplants want more freedom.

“We’re seeing a huge surge of people coming from California. A lot of people just want to be out of expensive states that were very restrictive and live in a place where they can be successful with their businesses,” Herring said.

The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs said 2020 was a record-breaking year. They said lenders processed substantially more applications in 2020 than in years prior.

The average borrower’s income also reached a record high of a little more than $94,000, according to the department. That’s nearly $40,000 more than in 2011.

The Department of Consumer Affairs said the average borrower’s credit score was 733 which is the highest ever reported.

“The frenzy that you’re seeing in the marketplace is because of demand and low inventory,” Herring said.