In 2021, OBX housing prices continue to boom
OBAR data show increase of 20% or more in many communities
The November 2021 MLS Statistical Report just released by the Outer Banks Association of Realtors (OBAR) shows that amid a continuing housing boom, sale prices rose by 20% or more in a number of Outer Banks communities so far this year. The picture is more mixed when it comes to the number of residential sales thus far in 2021 compared to the previous year.
Median Sales Price
The biggest single jump in year-to-date median residential sale prices occurred on Hatteras Island, where 2021 prices have jumped by 39% over the previous year, with a median price of $523,000. The next highest increase is 29% in Corolla, which has averaged the highest sale price thus far in 2021 at $720,000. Nags Head experienced a 28% jump in residential prices, with the media sale price coming in at $615,000. Next on the list is Kitty Hawk, where a 27% increase in prices has brought the sale price up to $500,000 so far this year.
In Southern Shores, the median sale price has increased by 25% thus far in 2021, up to $635,000. In Kill Devil Hills, prices increased by 23%, with the median price of a home sale at $407,500. On Roanoke Island, the median price in 2021 to date is $430,500, up by 21% from the previous year. There was a 20% sale price increases in Duck, bringing the median price up to $625,000. In Colington, the sales price of $350,000 in 2021 represents an increase of 17% over the previous year.
There have been a relatively small number of residential property sales (40) on Ocracoke Island thus far in 2021. But the median price has jumped 24% to $440,000.
Year-to-Date Sales
For a number of OBX communities, 2020 was a year of explosive growth in the number of residential units sold, with this year’s numbers levelling off. Yet for others, the number of year-to-date sales in 2021 exceeded a more sluggish set of numbers at the same point last year.
The biggest jump in 2021 sales numbers compared to the previous year was on Hatteras Island where a strong 63% increase in 2020 sales was followed up so far this year by a 33% increase. There were notable increases in sales in Kill Devil Hills, which were up 31% year-to-date over 2020, when the gain was a modest 5%. Colington sales are up 24% so far this year after being down 9% in 2020. Nags Head is right behind, with a 23% gain in residential sales, slightly down from the 31% increase posted in 2020.
The biggest drop in year-to-date sales numbers was in Duck, where sales have fallen by 10% so far in 2021. But that comes after an enormous 114% increase in 2020. Corolla sales are down by 3% this year, but that comes on the heels of even more explosive 2020, when they increased by 131%. Southern Shores sales in thus far in 2021 were down 5% after being up 32% in same period in 2020.
Kitty Hawk and Roanoke Island both had the number of sale fall by 3% so far this year, but they are working off of very different 2020 numbers. In the first 11 months of last year, Kitty Hawk saw modest growth of 4% in sales, but Roanoke Island was up 63% in 2020.
Once again, because of the relatively small number of sales, Ocracoke numbers can be much more fluid. In the first 11 months of 2020, for example, the island saw the number of sales drop by 10%. But through November 2021 the sales numbers skyrocketed by 122%.
