Good news everyone, spring is almost here! The bad news is we cannot promise the weather will improve and coincide with the date on the calendar. As Henry Van Dyke reminded us, “The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.” We truly hope March brings in the warm weather and the sunshine soon. The past few weeks have been cold and rainy and not as appealing as other times of the year, and we are ready to enjoy the outdoors again. Happy St Patty’s Day to everyone who is Irish or likes to pretend for the day!
This past winter was vastly different from any other before. There was not a remarkable change in traffic or vacant homes during the colder months, thus making it harder to notice the usual indicators of an upcoming season. This is directly attributed to the latest real estate market and the pandemic. As we mentioned in our last owner note, many new and existing homeowners have removed their homes from the rental market and are using their homes only for personal use. It doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference, but this new pattern is creating some concern for local businesses and town representatives. For local business owners whose business is geared towards tourism, the decrease in available rentals will create a ripple effect resulting in a diminished income for them. These businesses will have to learn how to adapt to this transformation quickly, and possibly come up with a new strategy. In addition to the local businesses, the county representatives who come up with the town budgets are being forced to generate other sources of revenue to offset the possible loss of income from occupancy taxes. Fewer rentals equal fewer occupancy taxes creating a decline in revenue that needs to be addressed. Only time will tell if things return back to the normal ebb and flow of seasonal changes, but for now, it is apparent that this transition is going to impact more than real estate along the Outer Banks.
In real estate news, the crucial issue right now is the undersupply. The number of properties for sale continues to decrease to levels never seen before. Two years ago in February, there were 1547 residential listings active on the market. This past February only had 413 residential listings for sale. That is only about a quarter of the listings available from just two years ago! People are going to the extremes right now to buy properties along the Outer Banks. We have been requested on behalf of buyers to reach out to homeowners and all but beg them to sell their homes. Almost every time, the answer is an emphatic no, they are not ready to sell their home. After talking with many local agents, they have said the same thing, people just do not want to sell. As this trend continues, sellers are able to aggressively price their properties, and many buyers are spending significantly more to purchase them.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for February* 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.
Stay safe and stay healthy,
The OBX Homes Team
