Real Estate in This North Carolina City Is Booming. Potential Sellers Should Take Note.
With luxury properties selling significantly faster than they were a year ago, owners in Wilmington stand to benefit from high prices, low inventory and quick sales
Posted: March 25, 2024 By Katie Moore
Buyers pining for carefree, coastal living in Wilmington, North Carolina, are finding that it’s getting harder to find a luxury home there, not to mention one at the right price point—and that’s giving sellers the upper hand.
Luxury homes in the Wilmington metro area were selling six weeks faster in December than they were a year ago, according to the most recent luxury data from Realtor.com, signaling that conditions are favorable for sellers looking to cash in on an opportunity.
“Prices are high, inventory is low, time on market is quick. So it’s a good time to be a seller in a market like Wilmington,” said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst for Realtor.com.
Days on market for luxury homes in metro Wilmington were down 46 days in December from a year earlier, and the number of homes asking $1 million or more on the market increased 51% to 316 during that time frame.
“It’s a great time to be a seller in the waterfront and luxury market,” said Nick Phillips, a broker at Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty specializing in luxury and waterfront homes in Wilmington.
Even though inventory for the overall housing market in Wilmington proper is up 43% year on year, that number is still down 36% from before the pandemic four years ago, Jones said, citing Realtor.com data for January.
(Mansion Global is owned by Dow Jones. Both Dow Jones and realtor.com are owned by News Corp.)
“Inventory levels are still so much lower in Wilmington than they were pre-pandemic,” she said.
Nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River, Wilmington is a desirable place for buyers who crave the outdoors and enjoy activities like boating and golfing, said Melanie Cameron, a broker specializing in luxury homes with Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage in Wilmington.
With four distinct seasons and moderate temperatures, it’s not unusual to have 70-degree-Fahrenheit December days. “I’ve lived here almost 30 years, and I can count on two hands how many times I’ve seen ice and snow,” Cameron said.
Wilmington also offers Southern cosmopolitan appeal, with a historic downtown area where residents can explore local boutiques, riverfront dining and entertainment.
“It has that small-town feel, but it also has the amenities that you would want in a bigger city,” Cameron said.
Big Interest from the Big Apple
The latest data show that Wilmington is attracting as much interest from people in other parts of the country as it does from those who live in-state. According to fourth-quarter figures on cross-market housing demand from Realtor.com, more than half of the viewership coming to homes in Wilmington is from outside of the state.
“That alone speaks to how desirable this market is to people outside of North Carolina,” Jones said.
Interest in Wilmington homes is highest among Manhattanites. Of the views of homes in the metro area, one in five came from the New York City area, according to the Realtor.com data.
“What that says to me is it’s a good area for people who are these higher-wage buyers looking for a little bit more for their money outside of New York City,” Jones said.
Cameron said price factors strongly into the out-of-state demand. “The luxury home here is a lot more affordable than it is on the West Coast or the Northeast.”
Even after a 1.8% year-over-year increase, the average listing price for a luxury home in metro Wilmington was $1.6 million in December 2023, compared to $5.8 million in the San Diego metro area and $5.9 million in metropolitan New York City.
Proximity plays to Wilmington’s advantage, too, Phillips said. The area is easily accessible to most major metro areas along the Eastern Seaboard, and residents can hop on a direct flight to New York or Washington, D.C., from Wilmington International Airport.
“They can leave their home in N.Y.C. and be at their beach house at Figure Eight Island in less than two hours,” Phillips said, referencing the exclusive, residential-only island just south of Wilmington.
With its location as a midpoint along Interstate 95, Wilmington attracts buyers who regularly travel up and down the East Coast, Cameron said. “We get a lot of Northerners who go south to Florida and then come halfway back,” she said.
Where Buyers Want to End Up
Like many other luxury markets in desirable destinations, interest in Wilmington flourished during the pandemic, as late-career professionals saw an opportunity to move to the places where they planned to eventually retire, Cameron said.
“People can still travel from there, work remotely and enjoy the area’s lifestyle,” she said.
That’s not to say all buyers fit that profile. Cameron said Wilmington homes have sold to buyers including a retired professional who paid cash for the property, a middle-aged corporate engineer and entrepreneurs in their late 20s. “It’s a good mix of buyers from all age groups,” she said.
And more recently, the age of buyers has been trending downward, Phillips said.
“I think the most significant change we have seen, especially since the pandemic, has been the influx of young, affluent buyers who are coming in and snapping up waterfront homes,” he said.
Cameron said luxury buyers are drawn to coastal and country club communities like Landfall, which is built around a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, and the scenic waterfront town of Wrightsville Beach nearby.
Along with Wilmington’s traditional Coastal Craftsman-style homes, contemporary builds enveloped in concrete and windows are grabbing buyers’ attention. Newer homes boasting high-end finishes and a spot closer to the water tend to fetch the highest prices, Cameron said.
“We have a few sales in the last year that exceeded $10 million,” she said.
Signs Point to Seller’s Market
At $1.8 million, the median luxury price in Wilmington proper has risen 5% year over year and 26% from before the pandemic, according to January 2024 data from Realtor.com.
“For sellers in that segment, it’s still very possible—depending on when you bought—to come out pretty favorably from a home sale,” Jones said.
And if inventory doesn’t pick up at the same rate that demand does this spring, it’s possible that prices will continue to rise, she said.
“Buyers are really excited to see new homes on the market because there’s just not that much inventory,” Jones said. “And so, if you have a well-priced home that’s well-maintained, well-loved, then buyers are going to be really excited to see that.”
Given the market conditions, Cameron said anyone considering selling or buying would be wise to start the process sooner rather than later.
“Don’t wait,” she said.