Everything is Better at the Beach. Especially Real Estate.

Oak Island is one of the nation’s most affordable beach communities

As we reach the midway point of beach season, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage wanted to take an in-depth look at home prices and other details in some of our amazing beach communities courtesy of North Carolina Regional MLS statistics.

The hottest – no pun intended - and most affordable beach community in the region – and maybe around the nation - is Brunswick County’s Oak Island where the median price of a home sold in June was $267,500.  This was up 11.7% over a year ago after a brisk June sales period where 70 homes were sold, the most in the region and up 22% over last year.  Amazingly, you can live at the beach in Oak Island for LESS than the national median price of $276,900!

“We are a sleepy beach town for people who want family time,” said Carol Averitte, managing broker of the Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage office in Oak Island. “We don’t have chain restaurants although we do have our Dairy Queen!  We have been discovered over the years largely because of the building going on in St. James Plantation, and the exposure we have gotten from HGTV, and when the movie ‘Safe Haven’ was filmed down here a few years ago. We have quite a few buyers from Charlotte, Raleigh, Carey and Greensboro purchasing second homes here and, of course, continued interest from Northeasterners.”          

Brunswick County’s other three major beach communities – Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach also saw price increases with median home prices in the $400,000 range.  There were 19 homes sold in Ocean Isle Beach, which saw a 37% increase in median price over last June, the highest increase of any of the major beach communities in the region.

Carolina Beach Homes Selling Quickly

Another incredibly affordable beach is Carolina Beach in New Hanover County which mirrored what is happening nationally.  A tight supply of homes saw a diminished number of sales leading to quick sales and increased prices.  There were 41 homes sold in June, which was down a dramatic 35% from last June, and the median price of these homes was $305,000, up almost 4%.  These homes sold in just 67 days, more than half as quickly as last year.

“The people who live in Carolina Beach essentially traded a lower price for longer commute to the airport and highways compared to Wrightsville Beach,” said Kimberly Sands, Broker-in-Charge of the Carolina Beach office for Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. “We are a happy little island and have plenty of shopping and restaurants and are only 10 minutes from Monkey Junction. We are seeing quite a few multiple bids on homes and we are explaining to those who are interested in buying a home here that they need to be ready because they may not have as much time to make a decision as in years past.”

Wrightsville Beach is Crown Jewel

Wrightsville Beach, which is 18 miles up the coast, remains the crown jewel of our beach community where the median price of homes sold in June was $894,999.  As you would imagine, because of the more expensive prices, it takes quite a bit longer to sell a home -- 199 days.

“We are the Caribbean of North Carolina with our quaint community, white sandy beaches and crystal blue water,” said Sherri Pickard, Managing Broker of the Autumn Hall office of. Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. “We have become one of the more exclusive communities in the region and that transition began in the early 1990s when the I-40 Connector was completed, giving those in the Research Triangle easy access to the beach.  We have had 37 homes over $1 million sell in Wrightsville Beach over the last year.  But you can still find small 500-foot square foot original cottages mixed in with our incredibly beautiful homes.”

Continuing north, Pender County’s Topsail Beach was the second most active beach community in the region with 62 homes sold in June.  It was also the third most affordable with a median price of $358,750, up 2.5% from a year ago.

Looking at the Overall Market

As you can imagine, our beach communities – except for Oak Island - are more expensive than most housing markets around the nation. National Association of Realtors reports in its latest Existing Homes Sales Report that home prices nationally rose to a record $276,900 a 5.2% increase over last June.  This is largely because of the low number of available homes is creating a supply/demand imbalance.

Nationally, we are in a sellers’ market with a 4.3 month supply of homes, far below the 6-month number that equates to a balanced market where the supply of homes meets the current buyer pool and neither the buyer nor seller has a negotiating advantage.  As you would imagine, homes are selling really quickly across the county with more than 58% selling within a month.

For those of us who are looking for homes away from the beach, here is a look at what is occurring at the county-wide level.

Pender County is the only one in the Cape Fear region where June median sales prices were above the nation mark.  Inventory challenges saw the number of sales decrease by 12.2% to 158 but prices increased to $280,950, up 1.8%. 

New Hanover County, home to the always popular Wilmington market, was the most active of our for Southeast North Carolina counties in June.  There were 578 homes sold last month, up nearly 5% from year ago and prices rose 7.1% to $263,402 essentially mirroring the national numbers.

Brunswick County followed in affordability with 534 homes sold in June equating to a median price of $226,070.

Onslow, is one of the most affordable markets in the nation with a median sales price of only $170,000, a 4.8% gain. It saw the largest uptick in sales last month with 516 homes sold, an increase of 16% over last June.  The attractiveness also increased the speed that homes sold – just 73 days which was down almost 30% from last year.

Here is a detailed look at home sales activity in June according to North Carolina Regional MLS: