February 2021 Real Estate News Letter

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” Did Aristotle visit the Outer Banks recently when he said this? Like the rest of the country, we have not been spared from the cold weather or the snow this year. We would like to have a word with Punxsutawney Phil and ask him to reconsider his prediction of six more weeks of winter.  While the cold weather is a perfect recipe for cozy reading days, the OBX Homes Team is still quite busy typing up offers and showing homes to potential buyers.

As we mentioned back in 2019, Currituck County was performing their 8-year assessment of property values. The updated valuations will be coming in the mail in the near future. The new values will be what the county uses for taxing properties starting in 2021. Chances are you will notice an increase in value like Dare County owners did last year. However, if you feel the valuation is unjust, there will be an option to appeal that will be on the notice you receive.

If you are one of the homeowners who rent out your property during the year, we have good news for you! Many rental properties were taken out of the rental market due to owners wanting to use them personally, or they’ve become their primary residences. In addition to the limited ability to travel internationally, the rental market has been phenomenal. The Twiddy rental department has been extremely busy handling reservations for your homes and each day continues to have more bookings. This is a pleasant surprise for property owners who might be relying on rental income or had declining rentals through the years.

In real estate news, the trilogy of high demand, low inventory, and low borrowing costs continue to keep our market soaring above other business sectors. Unlike the commotion that is happening in the stock market or the polarizing landscapes in politics, people are confident in the real estate market and it is showing. The numbers explain it best.  The total number of residential sales for this past January is up 73% from last January, and according to our MLS* is the highest number of unit sales and total volume sold ever. Pending listings are over 101% greater than January of 2020! January also reported an increase in the median sales price for every town from Corolla south to Nags Head, with Kitty Hawk being the only exception.  This increase ranged anywhere from 21% up to 71%!  We will point out that although Kitty Hawk did not add to their median sales price in January, they did register an increase of over 100% last year. The most interesting statistic we noticed from this report is the level of inventory which is down over 67 % from last year. There are some buyers who have elected to wait until the market cools off and the competition isn’t as strong, but there are no signs of this happening before the summer season.  We might have mentioned this before, but If you were thinking about selling in the near future, NOW, is the time to put those thoughts into action!

We’ve included the OBAR statistics for January* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know.

If you’ve been thinking about selling, we are happy to assist you with a free market analysis of your property.  If you or anyone you know is interested in buying a property, we would love to help find the perfect home on the Outer Banks. Please note we are more than happy to preview homes for anyone, and we can video call from a property if that is of interest to you.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team