REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP
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1019 Ocean Ridge Ln., Landfall, was the ninth in the top twelve home sales for the county. It sold for $1,950,000 on August 17.
LANDFALL
Vance Young pretty much doubled his business for 2012, knocking
back sales totaling $50,666,000 in 93 transactions, 57 percent of
which he cites as Landfall sales.
“In the first three weeks of January, we had five sales over
$1.7 million all the way up to $2.7 million in Landfall. That sale
on Ocean Point (No. 7 in the county, see chart on page 59) gave
people confidence, kind of set the bar. Each deal in 2012 was a
benchmark for buyers,” Young says.
Becky Spivey of Landfall Realty brought the buyer to 2356
Ocean Point.
“It was remarkable,” Allison Bernhart says of the sale, “The house
had been on the market, forever. And not only did they pay $2.5
million for it, but they are renovating, spending more money on it.”
The upscale, gated community of Landfall saw sales totaling
more than $64.6 million, up 43 percent from 2011. Volume in the
number of properties sold also increased an astounding 85 percent
over 2011, plus a healthy 17 were waiting at year-end to close.
Of the market there, Young says, “I have been here doing this
25 years. Our supply here has gone from 6,000 a few years ago to
3,200 units for sale. Supply and demand are meeting.”
“Right now we have 13 houses in due diligence, nine pending,
which is about double what we normally have,” Bernhart says.
“For January, that’s huge.”
FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND
The tony private enclave of Figure Eight Island logged a
20-percent increase to end the year with sales of $20,970 million
in 14 Broker-assisted sales. Two additional sales didn’t involve
Realtors. The average sales price at Figure Eight saw a 33-percent
increase, climbing to $1,792,236, and the median increased to
$1,547,000, a 25-percent increase.
“We have seen a continued increase in the average sales price
of homes and in the number of transactions,” says Judy Parlatore
of Figure Eight Realty. The firm is on island.
Parlatore, and her coworkers Jo El Skipper and Kirra Sutton
sold the two top properties there, one of which was the top sale in
the county, a 4-bed, 6-bath oceanfront home at 204 Beach Road
North, selling for $3.2 million.
“In 2012 we had two transactions that were greater than
the highest sales in 2011,” they said about the robustness of the
market there.
PLEASURE ISLAND
Pleasure Island saw strong increases as well with a $19.4 million
increase from 2011, which was a 41-percent increase over 2009 sales.
Year-end also saw 66 additional properties pending closing on
this two-town island.
“Twenty-five percent of all the closings was either a short
sale or foreclosure,” says Sharon Laney, co-owner of Prudential
Laney Real Estate, and sales manager of the Carolina Beach
office. “But now that inventory is drying up, we will get back to
a normal market when properties are not a foreclosure or short
sale,” she says.
PORTERS NECK
Porters Neck saw a strong 76-percent increase in the number
of properties sold, along with 16 additional sales waiting to close,
but prices have not stabilized there. That community saw a decrease
in the average and median sales prices. “Porters Neck and Bald
Eagle Lane caught a lot of attention at the end of the year because
of the water there. Several contracts for waterfront and golf course
properties came in at the end of the year, said Chris Livengood,
vice president of sales at Intracoastal Realty.
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WBM february 2013