2020 Real Estate Update

After a record-breaking 2020, Carl M. Freeman Companies continues full steam ahead in creating places that enrich lives. Some of those record-breaking stats in Bayside include 174 new contracts written in 2020 equating to an average price of $682,000. That is over double the number of sales Bayside had in the previous year! Two brand new neighborhoods began selling; North Haven (single family) and Harbor’s Edge (villas) and sales finished in neighborhoods; Herons Ridge (villas), Harbor Crest (townhomes), and Signature Blvd (mix). After starting sales in March, North Haven sold almost 90% of the lots available in 2020 with an average contract price of $891,000. Harbor’s Edge had half their lots sold after only 6 months with an average contract price of $471,000. Bayside welcomed 50 new home and 89 resales to the community in 2020. 25% of those resales were to homeowners who are staying in the community. Bayside came in below the average days on market for Sussex County and resale inventory hit the lowest point seen since resales began with patches of 0 on the market throughout the year.

Tidewater Landing also hit a record breaking 63 contracts written in 2020, a 40% increase from the previous record. Sales opened in the last two phases of the community and the average contract price was $646,000. Tidewater Landing had 48 new homes settle and saw its first 3 resales with one of those resales buying another new home in the community. Tidewater Landing’s average days on market is also below Sussex County’s average.

Coming off a strong 2019, Sussex County continued those trends into 2020 after a short blip in April. According to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Gallo Realty 5,001 single family homes sold in Sussex County in 2020, a 21% increase year over year (YOY). The average price of a single-family home was $467,000, a 13% increase YOY and the median price was $350,000, also a 13% increase YOY. Sussex County’s days on market was already declining 10-15% between 2018-2019. 2020 continued the decline coming in at 79 or another 13% decrease year over year at the end of December. The 30-year average rates hit an all-time low December into January at 2.65%.

Sussex County homes on the market account for less than 2 months of supply at the current sales pace. 823 homes in total were on the market at the end of December with 53% being new construction. This is a 50% decrease in homes on the market YOY. Georgetown and the Lewes/Rehoboth area continue to show the largest sale increases YOY. Sussex County had roughly 4,200 vacant developed lots at the end of December 2020. This accounts for 18 months of supply given the monthly home starts average of the last 3 years. VDLs have been declining since 2018 and with the exception of 2016, VDLs months of supply have been declining since before 2015. Sales and starts continue to outpace inventory brought to the market in Sussex County.