It’s almost impossible to believe that it’s September already! The telltale signs of summer’s end are not present this year. Temperatures are not cooling down, the kids are not in schoolrooms, and the crowds are not thinning out. The calendar is the only way we can truly know that the fall season is approaching.
At the beginning of September, Governor Cooper announced North Carolina will move into “Safer at Home” Phase 2.5. In this phase, certain establishments like aquariums, museums, playgrounds, and gyms can open with some limitations, but other indoor venues such as bars, movie theaters, and amusement parks will remain closed. Our local authorities are forecasting above-average levels of tourism for this fall season. Some towns are keeping the lifeguard stands up at the beach accesses for a couple of months beyond Labor Day in response to the high volume of vacationers. Many rental companies have well above average bookings into October. We know that Twiddy’s vacancy rate through the end of September is 3% this year in comparison to 2019 which was 21%. That is almost full occupancy for just one rental company alone. Although we notice an increasing number of fall tourism each year, this one is off the charts. Excellent news for all the rental property owners and local businesses who lost income during the spring!
In real estate news, the market continues to defy all expectations or predictions of impending doom from the aftermath of COVID19. The number of listings that went under contract in August was over 125% higher than last year! Residential sales that closed in August were almost 60% higher than the same time last year. Inventory is down over 50% from this time last year. The market is HOT! The OBX Homes Team experienced more multiple offer situations in the past two months than it has since the housing boom. We have broken all records of new listings going under contract within the first month of being listed. At the beginning of 2020, our local market was experiencing a huge uptick in sales, potentially having a banner year. With current conditions, there is a strong chance we could see the highest number of sales recorded for the Outer Banks! If you were thinking about selling in the near future, NOW, is the time to put those thoughts into action!
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for August* 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 provide a virtual showing of a property to you if that is of interest to you.
The OBX Homes Team is making an effort to help the environment and decrease our paper output. If you’d like to help in reducing our paper use, please send us a current email so we can add you to our paperless mailing list. We will send you an email each month with a copy of our updated owner note and statistics report. We appreciate your effort to help with this and thank you. We will continue with owner mailings to those who wish to receive them by mail.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.
Stay well,
The OBX Homes Team
