Truly, what was synonymous with the start of the prime season became almost just another Monday in May. We really did not notice the dramatic increase in traffic and crowds because they were here long before Memorial Day this year! Business is back to normal and even booming at record-breaking levels along our coast. We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend and enjoyed an extra day off!
As many parts of the country dealt with a slower reboot to their local economy from Covid, the Outer Banks somehow became an even more popular destination for travelers and those who wanted to move here permanently. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) reported that in the first four months of 2021, it hosted 588,904 visits. That is the highest level for that four-month period in its history, which indicates our little secret place of paradise is not a secret anymore! Another shocking statistic we are proud to announce is the OBX Homes Team has sold more this year as of June 4 than it did in all of 2020! With almost 50 million in sales this year already, we are extremely humbled and honored to be representing you, our clients, and beyond grateful for all of your business!
The OBX Homes Team is happy to pass along information that might be of interest to any Outer Banks property owner. The OBXOA (Outer Banks Owners Alliance) is dedicated to working toward EQUAL RIGHTS for all property OWNERS of the collective counties within the Outer Banks. They are a FRIENDLY non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides forums for property owners to COLLABORATE and opportunities to build relationships in the communities where we own property. For more information about the Alliance or to join, please visit www.OuterBanksOwnersAlliance.org or email [email protected]. We will continue to keep the link on our owner notes at the bottom, but please feel free to reach out to them.
On the real estate front, May showed a drop in activity levels. Normally, this is common for our area due to summer rentals and availability to show; however, we now believe this is in addition to the lack of inventory, the higher property prices, and the lenders. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, “Low inventory is plaguing areas across the country. Total existing-home inventory at the end of April was 1.16 million, down nearly 21% from a year ago. Unsold inventory nationwide is at a 2.4-month supply at the current sales pace—representing near-record lows.” Although the inventory is at record-breaking lows, we are hearing the same comment from several buyer prospects. They want to wait until after the summer to see if more inventory becomes available to help offset the bidding wars and aggressive pricing. We are also seeing the banks putting up a fight against the current values with the appraisals. Lenders do not want to be on the hook, like they were during the last housing market crash, and are trying to prevent over-valuing properties. That being said, fewer people will be able to purchase homes at the current market prices.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for May* 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
*Based on information from the Outer
Banks Association of REALTORS® MLS for the period (May 1 through May 31).
If you are working with another real estate agent, or your property is listed with another broker this is not intended as a solicitation.
For more information about OBXOA (Outer Banks Owners Alliance) or to JOIN, please visit www.OuterBanksOwnersAlliance.org or email [email protected]
