Sales slow, foreclosures up, but prices leveling off

Russ Lay | March 8, 2010

Market vs. assessed value:
› Currituck mainland, 90%
› Manteo, 88%
› Kill Devil Hills, 83%
› Kitty Hawk, 82%
› Nags Head, 82%
› Southern Shores, 82%
› Duck, 80%
› Currituck beaches, 69%

Home sales are still moving slowly on the Outer Banks, but prices may be stabilizing.

Figures provided by Southern Shores Realty show that of 2,420 active listings in Dare and Currituck counties, 143 were under contract as of March 1. The figures did not include Hatteras Island.

That is a ratio of 5.9 percent of pending contracts to active listings. Most Realtors see a healthy market as one where the ratio exceeds 20 percent. The last time was in December, 2005, when it stood at 22 percent.

Market values are still well under assessments. The Currituck beaches have been the hardest hit, with sales prices in February at 69 percent of tax value. In September 2009, it was 72 percent.

The Currituck mainland remains the least affected area, with homes holding steady at 90 percent of assessed value. As of March 2, the Southern Shores Realty chart shows Kill Devil Hills at 83 percent of tax value, Kitty Hawk at 82 percent, Manteo at 88 percent, Martin’s Point at 71 percent, Nags Head at 82 percent, Southern Shores at 82 percent and Duck 80 percent.

Lot sales prices compared to assessed values continue to lag homes, but some areas appear to be rebounding. As of March 2, lots in Duck were selling at 99 percent of tax value. Currituck beaches stood at 50 percent, Currituck mainland at 50 percent, Kitty Hawk at 62 percent, Martins Point at 72 percent, Kill Devil Hills at 72 percent, Manteo at 79 percent, Southern Shores at 86 percent and and Nags Head at 59 percent.

The ratios are mostly improved since September 2009, indicating lot values have probably turned the corner, with Duck and Southern Shores topping the list.

Southern Shore Realty’s figures are based on statistics compiled by their sales staff, sourced from the Outer Banks Board of Realtors MLS system and Dare and Currituck county deed records

Meanwhile, David Perrot of Re/Max Ocean Realty provided numbers that showed foreclosure notices are increasing. According to the RE/Max data, there were 650 foreclosure notices in 2008 for all of Dare and Currituck and 1,037 in 2009. For January and February there were 163 foreclosures compared to 60 in the same time period for 2009 and 96 in 2008. RE/Max data is from the Dare and Currituck county clerk’s of court offices.

Foreclosure notices are the first step in the foreclosure process, and many of these properties will not wind up in foreclosure. The data include homes, lots, condos and time share properties.

Southern Shores Realty’s weekly e-mail updates are available by sending a request to sales@southernshores.com.

Posted in Real estate

See what people are saying:

Mico says:

I look forward to the addendum with Hatteras Island figures.

on March 9, 2010 @ 7:33 am

Selena K says:

Anonymous experienced local Realtor here (I make a decent living at it full-time with no second job). I have a few thoughts that might anger some people, but here goes:

1) Buyer demand is higher than most people think, therefore sales are better and better all the time;

2) I would urge every seller who is either unreasonable, unable or unwilling to sell for fair market value to get out of the market so our supply and demand could correct. There are far too many overpriced listings in the MLS and this is still not the proper time to “test” the market;

3) Which leads us to short sale attempts. They are a tease to the general public and brokerage firms who advertise “see us for short sale deals” are only harming the entire market. Buyers have the misconception that short sales are a “deal” and they feel they’ve been victim to an old-fashioned con artist “bait & switch” when they see some of these unrealistic, non-approved asking prices on short sales. They come to look and realize that short sale asking prices are not doable prices. It makes us all look bad, IMO.

Thanks for letting me vent!

on March 9, 2010 @ 3:12 pm

Selena K says:

Oh, and if you ask 95% of the buyer demographic whether they care if our tax assessed values are X-amount higher than our FMVs, they might laugh.

The vast majority of our buyer clientele come from places with such higher taxes than ours, it would make your jaw drop.

We have a good thing here…don’t gripe about our property taxes.

on March 9, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

Selena K says:

Lastly, the tax value vs. FMV is obviously going to be skewed because both counties assessed in the peak of the boom and they both waited so many years between assessments. We are lucky the value differences are not greater, IMO.

on March 9, 2010 @ 3:32 pm

Russ Lay says:

Writer’s note: The use of assessed value vs. FMV has nothing to do with the fact that assessed value is out of whack due to the timing at the market peak. What is mathematically important is that assessed value is a constant, so measuring sale price vs. assessed value gives one an idea of where prices are going and provides a tool in determining if a house is over or under priced in a market relative to the mean or average. Since market value moves up and down, one needs a constant value to assess trends. The article did not comment on whether property taxes were high or low here.

on March 9, 2010 @ 9:56 pm

Selena K says:

Understood. Thanks for letting me make my points.

Everything is skewed toward sellers in the RE world, which is a hold-out of the old-school RE mentality. Buyers are often ignored, but it takes both sides for the market to operate at all. We should not forget it’s the buyers who make it happen–anyone can list their home for sale, realistically-priced or not…ably or not. But not everyone can buy.

Overall, the market is getting better all the time!

on March 10, 2010 @ 10:12 am

John says:

The majority of loans qualified for the foreclosure moratorium during much of the Jan & Feb of 2009 time frame, therefore it’s not a good comparison to 2010. Foreclosure filings were down during that period in 09 and surged upward for several months after the moratorium expired.

on March 10, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

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