Crystal Coast Homes & Properties -Great News!

Great News!

Yes-I'm talking great real estate news!

By: Bill Hitchcock

(Note: The Crystal Coast area is located betwen Hatteras and Wilmington, NC)

I thought it would be interesting to compare each month's sales to it's corresponding month from the year before. What I discovered was that as of October 30, three months this year have had the same amount of sales as in 2007. (OK-I fudged a little bit. August 2007 sold 117 homes and in 2008 it was 116)

How significant is this?? Very significant!!. Sales have been on the decline along the Crystal Coast ever since the spike year of 2005. This is the first time that any month, let alone 3 months have not been in decline when compared to the same month the year prior. This is highly significant!

The only way the Crystal Coast real estate market has been able to chip away at the glut of inventory has been to reduce the amount of new inventory coming on the market. Trust me-That isn't the real estate broker's doings for they still have a "list and sell, list and sell" mentality. It is the market place righting itself.

Fortunately in 2008 every month has seen a decline of new inventory coming on the market

Probably by now some of you are wondering if I really am a real estate broker with all of the above "stuff" I have been writing about. But the reality of the situation is inventory has been at historic highs, sales at historic lows and new on market have outpaced sales by 3 to 1.

Now, finally in 2008 we have had positive sales and new inventory on market have waned greatly. These two aspects created something I haven't seen in years and is the very thing we have desperately needed-A decline in over-all inventory.

This past September (and for the very first time!) showed over-all inventory less than the year before. A-Men! In fact, right now at this very moment we have almost exactly the same amount of inventory on market as we did the first day of the year! Say it again: A-Men!

Are we out of the woods yet? No. Are the signs of improvement a fluke, some unaccountable phenom? No to that too. As my father use to say, "It takes a long time to turn a battleship around in the water" Which was a strange thing for him to say because he was in the Air Force-But the point he was making is clear. It takes time for things to turn around. Especially big things like real estate markets.

In my opinion (and I stress, "opinion") we will see strong signs of improvement at the end of 1rst. Qtr. of 2009 and blossoming during the 2nd Qtr. Just be forewarned-Winter time along the coast of NC is slow. It always has been and it always will be. But don't let the normal ebb of the area fool you into thinking that improvements are not underway.

Bill Hitchcock

Crystal Coast Real Estate Television

http://www.crystalcoastrealestatetv.com

Hitchcock Realty

http://www.hitchcockrealty.net

Bill Hitchcock

http://www.billhitchcock.net