Blue skies and warmer temperatures are finally on the horizon! Hoping everyone can go outside and enjoy the great outdoors! Even the federal government delayed tax season for a month so everyone can enjoy April! Okay, maybe that wasn’t their reasoning, but we can pretend, right?
Did you know that a part of our local history will expand beyond the realm of not just our country but our planet? For the aviation enthusiasts who are reading this, a piece of the Wright Brothers will be heading to Mars! According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a small part of their plane will be a part of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Another piece of their plane was onboard the famous Apollo 11 mission to the moon in July 1969. Interesting to see how our small part of the world and its history is still preserved and highly respected with each major aviation advancement.
In other local news, the lawsuit that brought a lot of attention to the Town of Duck last year has resurfaced. This time the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the original ruling and has now decided that the Sea Breeze beach access in the Duck subdivision of Sand Dollar Shores is, in fact, private. After the ruling was announced to the public, the plaintiff said he plans to appeal the decision, arguing that his tax dollars for beach nourishment are unfair since he cannot access the beach. This will likely bring about more publicity as this continues to be a hot topic for the town.
In real estate news, the lack of inventory continues to be a huge issue. At the beginning of last month, according to The National Association of Realtors, its membership count actually exceeds the number of homes for sale. There are literally more people to sell homes than homes to sell! The demand for second homes across the country has skyrocketed since last January – up to 84% year over year, according to Redfin. Pending sales along the Outer Banks at the beginning of March increased 63.1% from March 2020. Let’s break this down in a way that really explains the current market. A few weeks ago, our team had two different clients offer on the same property in Corolla, and that listing agent let us know the sellers had over 19 offers presented to them. There is no denying it, this is a seller’s market! However, the lenders are starting to tighten up on their end. A few weeks ago, Fannie Mae announced that as of April 1 they will limit their loans to second homes and investment properties to no more than 7 % of their lending portfolio. This will make it tougher for borrowers who are more than qualified, to be approved for these mortgages. This directly impacts our local market since many of the properties here are second homes or investments. The upcoming months will indicate how much impact this will have on the current market conditions. As of now, the only reason our sales volume is slowing down is that there are not many properties on the market.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for March* 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
