Thank you to all of you that sent in questions.  We are always happy to answer any questions you have so please keep them coming.

One of the most talked about topics right now is…”How is the market really doing?” 

Some of you have seen marketing saying how the Outer Banks has had the best January in years.  

Here’s the real scoop and what others may not be telling you…

January’s stats are encouraging as we move to the spring season.  In January there were 231 units under contract, the highest number of units under contract since 2006 on the Outer Banks.   Definitely a positive sign, BUT, when you look further into the numbers you can see that of the 231 units under contract, just 119 actually were placed under contract during the month of January.  Some of the pendings date back over a year.   So while we certainly see signs of optimism, our market has not necessarily turned the corner.  

So what is selling?  

Keep in mind that these figures are for properties under contract.  We won’t know the final selling price until the property closes and that is IF it closes.  (See our September newsletter discussing the fact that at that time, only 50% of properties under contract were actually going all the way to closing) 

• Median contract price - $329,000
• Highest pending list price - $1,299,000
• 24 pendings are less than $200,000
• 56 pendings are less than $300,000
• 110 of the 119 placed under contract were listed under $700,000.  
• Average Days on Market under $600,000 = 126
• Average Days on Market over $600,000 = 197

Again, the statistics for January are encouraging with over 15% more units going under contract than did in January 2015.  Another encouraging sign for high end sales is that rental bookings are up compared to this time last year.  

One other question we’ve received in marketing higher end properties(and also another positive sign for the market) is the availability of getting jumbo loans.  Lenders are offering new and encouraging loan products to make it easier to own investment properties.  It used to be that jumbo loans were more difficult to get then conventional.  Not necessarily so now.  Visit www.OBXHousingWave.com for more information on these loan products. 

To sum it up, the start of 2017 may not actually be the best start in over 10 years as some have interpreted but we do have reason for great optimism moving forward into 2017.  As always, if you have more detailed questions concerning your specific piece of the Outer Banks, please reach out to us.

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to the Subscribers of the Outer Banks Association of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service. Information contained herein is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Data maintained by the OBAR MLS is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.