News about real estate values in the Outer Banks area

Home prices rose in May compared with April according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 major housing markets released Tuesday.

Prices were up 1.3% from April, and 4.6% from 12 months earlier.

The Commerce Department announced today that new home sales rebounded in June from the record low in May. 

New home sales increased 23.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000 last month, up from an downwardly revised 267,000 in May.

This is slightly better than the annual rate of 310,000 economists were expecting.

Mortgage rates fell to a record low for the fourth time in five weeks.   The average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week is 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

Last week, we shared the June real estate statistics for the Outer Banks, but given the positive trends, some further analysis is in order.  For the first 6 months of the year the overall market is the best it’s been in three years in terms of buyer activity and price stabilization.

Here are some additional highlights from the rosy month of stats: 

• On June 22, 2010, the number of listings in an ‘under contract’ status totaled 300 – the highest number of listings in this status since 2005
• Total Sales – The total number of sales (Residential, Land, and Commercial) for the first and second quarters of 2010 showed a 37% and a 36% increase over their respective quarters in 2009.
• Single Family Detached Home Sales – First quarter sales in this category showed a 22% increase from the first quarter of 2009 and second quarter sales showed a 24% increase over the second quarter of 2009.
• Residential Property Sales – Single family home sales rose 17% in June (133 units vs. 114 units in 2009).
• Current Inventory – The inventory of homes for sale at the end of June was 2,283 units, reflecting a 6% decline in inventory from the same time last year (2,439 units).
• Total Outer Banks Realty Sales are at their highest level since May 2007 (166 vs. 171)
• Residential property accounted for 72% of the Outer Banks Realty sales volume in 2006 compared to 89% in 2010.
• Bank owned properties account for 35% of all residential sales. However, bank owned properties are only 13% of the active listings.
• Condo Sales seem to be improving.  First quarter Condo Sales were weak with only 9 units being sold, but, sales in the second quarter soared – with 46 units sold in the second quarter – showing a large increase in sales.

Mortgage rates continue to hover around all-time low’s (4.5% – 5%), and 2010 is shaping up to be a strong rental year.  With prices off their boom highs and stabilizing, the ingredients are shaping up for a great buyer’s market.

Lowe's Logo

The Outer Banks Voice is reporting today that Lowe’s, the home improvement “mega store,” recently submitted a site plan for a store in Kill Devil Hills.

The plan calls for a 158,000-square-foot store on the “highway” between West 1^st St. and West Landing Drive.  The area is already zoned commercial, so the approval process could be as straight-forward as a site plan approval, but it’s too early to tell.

The Outer Banks Association of Realtors recently released the Monthly Statistical Report for the OBX real estate market in June 2010.  You can find the full report here.

Overall, the numbers are encouraging and demonstrate a continued trend of positive growth in the Outer Banks real estate market.  Here are a few highlights:

• Foreclosed Outer Banks homes accounted for 32% of home closings
• Homes under $400,000 are the most active segment of the market
• Three months in a row with more than 150 real estate closings
• Four months in a row with more than 100 home closings

Freddie Mac reported this morning that interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.57 percent this week. That’s down a hundredth of a percentage point from last week’s average rate, which was already at record lows.   Freddie Mac has been tracking 30-year-fixed-rate mortgages for 39 years, and the past three weeks have shown record-setting lows for the most popular type of home loan.

 COLDWELL BANKER REAL ESTATE WINS COMMUNICATOR CREATIVE EXCELLENCE AWARD FROM INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF VISUAL ARTS

Brand’s ‘On Location’ YouTube Channel Honored in Real Estate Website Category

PARSIPPANY, N.J., (July 7, 2010) – The International Academy of the Visual Arts has named Coldwell Banker On Location, the brand’s YouTube channel, a recipient of this year’s Communicator Awards for Creative Excellence in the real estate website category. The category honors the best site for the sale or rental of residential or commercial property.

“We were the first national real estate brand to add streaming video to our website. Today, our agents across the globe have posted more than 15,000 videos to our On Location channel,” said Mike Fischer, chief marketing officer for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “The most exciting part of On Location is that we have only just begun – there’s a lot more to come.”

On Location has been rated among the top 10 most-viewed brand channels on YouTube. In April, just 11 months after launching On Location, Coldwell Banker announced it had received over 1 million views. The site was launched in May 2009 and was produced in collaboration with FD Kinesis.

“Home buyers would much rather see a home than only read about it,” Fischer said. “Our On Location videos empower them to get a feel for a home, a community or a real estate professional that they could not get from photos or a text description alone. Equally important are the home sellers who are now expecting video to be a part of marketing their property.”

With thousands of entries received from across the United States and around the world, the Communicator Awards is one of the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence for communications professionals. The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, advertising and marketing firms.

About Coldwell Banker®
Since 1906, the Coldwell Banker® organization has been a premier provider of full-service residential and commercial real estate.   Coldwell Banker is the oldest national real estate brand in the United States and today has a network of more than 98,000 agents working in more than 3,600 offices in 50 countries and territories. The Coldwell Banker brand is known for creating innovative consumer services as recently seen by being the first national real estate brand to augment its web site www.coldwellbanker.com for smart phones, the first to create a iPhone application and the first to fully harness the power of video in real estate listings, news and information through its Coldwell Banker On LocationSM YouTube channel.  The Coldwell Banker system is a leader in specialty markets such as resort, new homes and luxury properties through its Coldwell Banker Previews International® marketing program.

 Late last night, the United States Senate passed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing deadline.

Known as the “Homebuyers Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010,” the bill was passed by unanimous consent. The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed.

This legislation is designed to create a seamless extension, and the new closing deadline for eligible home sale transactions is now September 30, 2010. There will not be any gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in April from a year earlier, a 3.8% increase.