We saw a lot of very positive signs in 2015 that continue to lead us on the path to recovery. While we still have an oversupply of inventory on the market, keeping prices down, we have a double digit increase in number of sales.
The other interesting trend is showing more homes in the higher price ranges are selling and fewer homes offered in the under $300,000 price range. That is showing our median sales price to be up, even though individual home prices aren’t rising at this point.
It’s virtually impossible for our home values to go up when inventory is still at a 15 month supply. However, it’s a great step forward. We saw a 20% increase in number of sales for 2012, then it steadied for 2 years until another big increase in sales for 2015.
Mortgage brokers are expecting a surge in activity the first part of 2016 to beat the Fed’s promise of rising interest rates. We certainly have a year round market on the OBX and see great activity all year long. The two spikes in activity happen in March/April and September/October. No need to wait though, we can get your home sold any time of year.
Here is the breakdown of where we ended up for 2015:
- Residential number of sales were up 11%
- Average sales price was down 2%
- Land sales numbers were down 5%
- Average sales price was up 7%
- Inventory was down 8%, being the lowest since 2007
- Foreclosed home sales were down 37%
Next month I’ll provide a break down of each location individually so you can see how it compares year over year.
If you have any questions or would like additional information please let me know.