Luxury Listings and Sales in the North Carolina Mountains

Luxury Properties and the Post-Covid Real Estate Market

The Covid pandemic drastically affected inventory and price levels for all market ranges from early days 2020, including luxury real estate sales.  That trend continues. 

Even in 2023 luxury buyers scour the inventory in popular mountain resort towns like Blowing Rock, Boone and Linville to buy properties in the million dollar plus range.  Properties which feature the style and mountain views luxury buyers want have gone over list price and under contract sometimes as soon as 24 hours after appearing in MLS.  Almost all of those quick-to-contract luxury homes have several characteristics in common: long range mountain views, up to date decor and high end finishes where no remodeling is needed, move-in ready, located in a neighborhood with comparable priced homes convenient to a resort town. 

When that 'just right' luxury property comes on the market buyers receive new listing info immediately through auto email or text/phone call from their buyer agent or alerts from real estate websites where buyers have registered their search parameters.  I know of several luxury homes in 2023 where online appointments were booked solid for the next few days within hours of the luxury listing appearing online. 

Aggressive pricing continues across all market tiers.  My real estate professor, who was also an appraiser, always made the point that the price someone pays for the property sets the market value of that property on that day.  When buyers pay higher prices, then higher prices create the rising market trend and higher sold prices create higher per square foot comp sales.  While there are more price reductions now than in early days of Covid there are still luxury properties which sell quickly for list price or more. 

This demand for existing, high end homes is influenced by the small number of unlimited licensed contractors in this corner of the NC Mountains and the Covid effect of limited supplies and high pricing on materials and labor. After the already small pool of existing homes were bought quickly in 2020 then buyers switched to having custom homes built and then contractors got booked for 2-3 years and they continue to be booked.  Therefore, existing luxury homes which are move in ready are highly sought after.  Buyers believe they can obtain their luxury home 2-4 years earlier - at a known price - as opposed to waiting for a custom built home which will likely have cost overruns. 

The Real Estate Market Trend is Focus on Nature

According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce the spike in visitor spending that started immediately following Covid's initial 2020 rampage has continued.  In 2022 visitor spending in North Carolina set a record. In the aftermath of Covid's initial onslaught visitor spending in North Carolina rural counties outpaced visitor spending in metro counties. People wanted to escape to nature and escape highly populated areas. Although two metro areas in 2022 returned to capture the most visitor spending the largely rural Asheville NC area ranked third in visitor spending in the state, highlighting the popularity of a location surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery. 

The mountains of northwestern North Carolina have long been a retreat, whether it is a picnic in the park along Main Street, Blowing Rock or a hike along the many Blue Ridge Parkway trails or a kayak trip down the New River. Ski, hike, bike, trout fish, golf, zipline are among some of the outdoor recreation activities that draw visitors and property owners to this area.  This trend toward outdoor recreation and enjoyment of mountain wilderness has caused a shift in luxury developments.  More recent upscale developments incorporate enjoyment of nature as their focus.  Instead of golf courses in the gated communities, there are hiking trails, trout fishing streams, mountain bike and UTV trails, horse riding trails, fitness classes, sports courts, spa. 

Some residential developments own large acreage tracts where a portion of the land is reserved as conservation and green areas where there will be no development.  Blue Ridge Mountain Club located between Blowing Rock and Boone, encompasses 6200 acres many of which are in conservation.  They outperformed all other developments in the region during the Great Recession and through Covid in new construction permits because they recognized and focused on outdoor recreation and enjoyment of nature as their mission. Property owners in Blue Ridge Mountain Club can enjoy miles of trout streams, miles of hiking and UTV trails, gorgeous mountain scenery.

During Covid and continuing Post-Covid buyers in our region accelerated their buying timeline for second homes.  Often heard among those buyers: 'We want to get a mountain home where all our family - grandparents to grandchildren - can make special memories while we all have that opportunity to be together'.  

Turning Luxury Homes into Rentals

The demand for long term rentals is high in our area. The inventory of homes available for long term rent have decreased and the rent rates for long term rentals, even luxury rentals, have greatly increased.  Short term rental demand ramped up during Covid and continues in post-Covid. 

Years ago as our local real estate market was finally coming out of the ten-year, laggard economic effects of the Great Recession second home owners were not receiving the vacation rental (short term rental) they had received prior to the Great Recession. All that flipped with Covid.  Those fortunate ones who could escape the warmer winter climes raced to their second homes in the North Carolina mountans in late winter 2020. They stayed for many months and longer with some of those working remotely.  Some who did not own second homes rented vacation homes for 6 months or more in their efforts to remove their families from the deadly pandemic. Some vacation home owners in the NC Mountains received more rental income in the first half of 2020 than in all the previous year.

Large luxury homes as vacation rentals are in demand among multi-generational family vacationers. Some buyers of luxury homes seek to place these properties in a vacation rental program, where the gross vacation rental income on some of these big, upscale homes is staggering.  Buyers seeking a luxury home to put into a short term vacation rental need to be aware that some subdivisions have restrictive covenants which prevent short term vacation rental usage.  But, there are communities and towns open to vacation home rental use and those are most often found around ski areas.  As counties in northwestern North Carolina are largely unzoned there are many areas in which there are no restrictions on short term vacation rentals. 

See Sample of Luxury Home Listing from Robbie Sharrett

See a short video of Luxury Home For Sale at 539 Nightshade Rd in Blue Ridge Mountain Club listed by Robbie Sharrett, Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist.

 https://app.homejab.com/property/view/539-nightshade-rd-boone-nc-28607-usa

Robbie Sharrett wrote this article 2023 - Not AI.