September is a magical month, especially along the Outer Banks! The daily temperatures aren’t as hot, and the evenings aren’t as cold, creating perfect weather conditions, and the crowds have thinned out a bit. September serves as a gentle reminder to slow down and take advantage of the outdoors as the summer fades into the background and autumn draws near. We hope that everyone is still having a great time during the final few weeks of the summer and had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
Thankfully, this year did not turn out to be the above-average storm season that was originally predicted. For the first time in a long time, there were no Atlantic basin hurricanes during the peak summer months. According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, this is the first time since 1941 that the Atlantic has gone without a named storm from early July to the end of August. Sure enough, right after we turned the calendar to September, Tropical Storm Danielle was named. Thankfully, the storm formed far enough off in the ocean that it did not impact any coastal areas. We hope that the current weather pattern holds and that no hurricanes threaten our area for the rest of the year. The absence of storms also facilitated keeping this year’s beach nourishment programs on track and on schedule. Several towns are still a couple of months away from their completion dates, but if you want to know the status of any specific area, please visit www.morebeachtolove.com for updates.
According to the MLS data from August, inventory fell for the first time in five months, and sales were higher than in July. Despite the recent uptick in sales, however, we did notice that a lot of the properties that sold or are still pending had a price reduction before entering into contracts. As stated in our previous owner notes, our local REALTOR’s office believed the slowdown was seasonal, and it appears that this holds to be true based on the data from the previous month’s report. Over the coming months, we anticipate an increase in inventory, which will be a factor in the market’s becoming more balanced and could possibly make it less of a seller’s market.
If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for August* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.
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
