Almost $2,000,000,000.00 closed on the Outer Banks thus far in 2021. That’s reflects a whopping 49% from last year- an incredible and unprecedented increase in my 24-year career.  

Vacant lots are selling faster than we can make them. That’s a joke, of course, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “They’re not making any more sand.”

It comes as no surprise then, that with inventory dwindling, prices have shot up as well.  

Looking at the big picture (residential plus vacant lots), the prices and number of properties sold have both exceeded last year’s record numbers. And 2020 was a banner year!

Inventory is down all across the Outer Banks, with no old listings left in Multiple Listing and very few properties sitting idly on the market these days. But still, last month’s new inventory was on pace with the last several years’ new inventory. In fact, when comparing new listings with total inventory, we see the number of new listings has stayed relatively even when accounting for seasonality.

Recent mortgage rates appear to directly correlate with news about Covid. When the virus was receding, the rates seemed poised to go up, but then the Omicron variant came along, with its rapid spread, the rates began retreating. Today, the typical 30-year conforming loan on an amount up to $647,200.00 is just 3.00% and the jumbo rate is at 2.875%. Refinance rates are slightly higher at 3.25% for conforming and 3.125% for jumbo. Generations of buyers will soon have difficulties trying to recall a time when rates were ever 5% or more. My father still talks of my parents’ first mortgage at 17% in the 70’s. The times… “they are a changing…”