Outer Banks Realty Report:
March 2010

The Outer Banks Realty Report is brought to you monthly by Morgan Mason and Jean-Paul Peron of Sun Realty. Morgan and JP focus on the northern beaches of the Outer Banks and hence their commentary will report on current market conditions from Carova NC to Nags Head NC. If you are interested in buying or selling a property in this area, please contact them by clicking on the link attached to their names.

Although it is not so obvious from the statistics for March 2010, the number of transactions has increased by over 35% on the Outer Banks from Hatteras to Carova.

As the number of Outer Banks realty transactions increases, we see that the average sale price decreases. 40% of closed transactions were for properties sold under $300,000. 20% of sales were bank owned (foreclosures). 20% were short sales (sold price is less than amount owed the bank). We will probably continue to see an increase in foreclosures and short sales over the next 12 months. It has been a long time since 40% of properties were less than $300,000 on the Outer Banks.

Properties that sold within 90 days sold very close to the asking price. Or put another way: "price the property right and it will sell"! Many sellers have been chasing the market; listing their property unrealistically high. When they do reduce the asking price, they are still behind the market because their property is declining in value while the price remains higher than value. The longer it takes to sell, the more value is lost in a declining market. If any wisdom can be found here perhaps it is, "do your homework, study what has sold and price your property to match the latest sales data". What a seller thinks their property is worth and what the market says it is worth may vary widely.

So the emerging pattern shows that the number of Outer Banks realty transactions (properties sold) has increased while the price of property continues to decline. The decline is slowing, however. We will see this pattern reverse itself when short sales and foreclosures slow down and the inventory of property on the market shrinks.

We do not usually discuss rental statistics here but it is noteworthy that, at our company at least, March bookings for weekly vacation rentals are up 22% over last year. And the year-to-date is up 11.9%. Maybe a precursor of good Outer Banks realty sales news?! We can only hope.

Notes:
1. The area of Carova Beach and north.
2. The towns of Corolla, Duck, Southern Shores, and Martins Point
3. The towns of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head.
4. The towns of Nags Head and north to Carova.

Notes:
1. The area of Carova Beach and north.
2. The towns of Corolla, Duck, Southern Shores, and Martins Point
3. The towns of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head.
4. The towns of Nags Head and north to Carova.

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