The bottoming of the Outer Banks real estate market has begun.
For the first time since August 2005 the Outer Banks real estate market has shown significant and sustained signs of life. How can that be since all you hear from the media is the real estate market is still a year away from the bottom? The most important thing to realize is the media reports are generalized and not for a specific region, state, city, or town. You may be trying to determine when is the right time to buy on the Outer Banks based on how well your local real estate market is doing. No one can compare the Outer Banks real estate market to the Richmond, VA, Pittsburgh, PA, Cincinnati, OH real estate markets or anywhere else.
Historically the Outer Banks market is a leading indicator of the national real estate market due to the fact we are a resort market. The Outer Banks market felt the downturn 1 to 2 years before the rest of the country when consumers tightened their wallets and stopped buying 2nd homes or investment property. Now the Outer Banks market is moving again and many feel the national economy is not far behind. While this bottoming out will take some time to work out we are already 4 months into the process.
Since January of this year I started to see signs that the Outer Banks real estate market was starting to bottom out. First the buyers showed up in full force and many offers were being submitted but not being accepted. A lot of this was due to the fact buyers were making offers 40 to 50% below list price and sellers in their minds had already lowered their prices enough, so the deals fell apart. Then as mortgage rates hit an all time low many buyers understood that if they make reasonable offers sellers would sell. Today the difference between the average sold price and list price is 6% to 8%. Since 2005 prices have dropped to 2003 levels and many buyers realized the incredible deals that are available and the market climate is starting to shift. There are many great deals still available!
Over the last few months my clients have been able to come down to look at real estate, find several homes that really fit their needs and make offers that have been accepted. Not to mention lenders are ready to lend money and the closing process is averaging less than 45days. I always have clients that say I should have bought......years ago. If you are in the market for an Outer Banks beach house now is one of those times people will be talking about years from now when they say " I should have got one of those great deals in 2009".
As a Realtor I try to give my clients, possible buyers and sellers a realistic picture of the current real estate market. To come to these conclusions about the Outer Banks real estate market I have studied the market statistics going back to 2003. Take a look at the statistical data that shows where the Outer Banks market was and how the Outer Banks market has started to rebound.
Chart represents the # of houses sold & under contract from 2005 to March 2009 on the Outer Banks
In April 2009 150 houses were put U/C and 83 sold. This continues the upward trend for the market
Notice the market peak in August of 2005 and the bottom in January 2009
For more information about the Outer Banks real estate market email MattHuband@HometownOBX.com Request a FREE list of Outer Banks Foreclosures & Short Sales
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