If you follow the market here in Duck you would definitely know that property sales have seen a much needed spike upward!  If you need a buyer, boy can we help you!  The town has been hopping with activity and buyers seem to be thrilled for it!  Of course it’s been since 2001 or 2002 since we’ve seen prices like these.  Coupled with historic low interest rates and over the top rental income it’s quite literally the “Perfect Storm.”  As I had predicted earlier this year, we could be looking at the best time to buy on the Outer Banks in 2 generations!

So how does all of this affect the property value of your home?  Sales activity is good and that’s definitely a positive.  However, the houses priced “best” are the ones selling.  Even here in Duck we have an oversupply of homes for sale.  Keep in mind when I write sales have doubled, that means more specifically that in January and February of 2011 there were a total of 10 Residential Home Sales in Duck.  So far for January and February of 2012 there have been 19.  Considering we have a total of 143 homes/condos active on the market we are still experiencing a 7.5 month supply of homes for sale.  This is also considering we haven’t hit the peak for new listings in the spring yet.  April is by far the biggest new listing month of the year.

Take a look at the following facts regarding the Duck real estate market.

• In the last 30 days, 8% of active inventory had a price reduction
• In the last 30 days, 26 new listings came on the market (7 more came on than sold)
• 97 homes have sold since January 2011
• 20 of those homes sold and closed within 100 days
• Average days on market is 316 for those homes
• Average list price is $720,000
• Average sale price is $656,000
• 21 of those sales were distressed (short sale or bank owned)
• That’s only 22% of sales in the last 14 months were distressed
• 78% of sales were not!
• Only 3 homes listed active right now are a distress sale
• Clearly it’s not the distress sales causing most of our headache, it’s the oversupply of homes for sale!  The basic principle of supply and demand.
• A “normal” market has between 3 and 6 months of inventory, Duck is at 7.5 before the surge in listings next month·

The moral of the story here is that buyers are ready to buy.  They have a lot of homes to choose from and are quickly buying the homes they perceive as the best value.  Listing high means pricing yourself out of the market.  If you want to sell, price it right and it will happen.  If you want to buy, there’s never been a better time!

I hope you enjoyed this quick report!  If I can answer any other questions for you please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Also feel free to subscribe to this blog for future articles of interest.