Real Estate Market in New Bern NC
To The Beaches!
New Bern is a lovely little town situation on the coast of NC, supporting a population of just under 32,000 and employing about 12.9k people (-0.302% year over year).
New Bern's annual population growth rate is sitting around 0.56% which is nothing glorious, 1.70% growth since the 2020 Consensus. Persons over 65 account for 23.2% of the population. Median age of 41, 19.2 min average commute to work, and around 3,200 veterans locally. New Bern is the 34th largest city in NC, and the 1448th largest in the US.
New Bern may not support the nightlife of a college town, but it is extremely rich in history. A short 5 miles from the heart of Downtown lays the New Bern Civil War Battle Site, which is a 30 acre practically untouched area with placards giving plenty of information on the battle that happened there in 1862. Additionally New Bern NC is the home of Pepsi-Cola, being made in an old corner drugstore, now heralded as "The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola." Tryon Palace is another amazing historical site that is amazing for tourists.
New Bern has a 2038 Plan that is on the books with the intentions of revitalizing the entire local area. There's way too much to breakdown here, but a brief synopsis; essentially the work will include, fixing old pavement, changing full concrete medians to include trees, redoing powerlines that awfully crisscross and look cluttered, adding more sidewalks, better lighting, and general cleaning up the appearance. This is coupled with an initiative to buy and rehab properties, with a goal of rent to own and get the properties out of city hands, while continuing to build new affordable housings. An initiative is being taken to being to roll in public housing into neighborhoods to keep everything tight, and force New Bern to get nicer (we will see if that pans out). New Bern also wants more hotels and accommodations for any sort of tourism. https://www.newbernnc.gov/depa... -Go to the 2038 Vision Plan, as well as a breakdown of what's currently on the books.
New Bern sports it's largest school being Craven Community College with about 2600 enrolled students in 2020, of which about 27% are full time students. 41 Students graduated in 2020, which was about 30% of the class. Not a premier community college by any standards.
Let's talk crime, then numbers. New Bern sits at a 10 out 100 on the crime index (with 100 being the safest), Which is a very agreeable number. New Bern is largely a quiet area, has a bit of a higher density of Violent/Property Crimes than surrounding areas, but that's to be expected as soon as population density increases.
The median home value is around $180,000 median sale price is at $290,000. Average DOM around 30, with average homes going for 1% under list and going pending in 17 days, while hot homes are going for ask and pending in 5 days. Some homes are getting multiple offers still, there are some buyers here other than the city itself. It's considered "Somewhat" Competitive.
About a 54.7% owner occupied ratio. Poverty rate is around 20%, there is a real need for affordable housing in this market. It has been addressed by local government as a immediate need in the area as well.
New Bern has a cost of living ranked as 37/50th most expensive, which means as far as NC is concerned it is very agreeable in pricing. New Bern is no massive city in NC, but it's not a tiny little town either. Having nearly a quarter of the population being 65+ means this town host a lot of retirees, or getting close to retiring. Making a lot of the neighborhoods nice and quiet. No major schools are bringing in flocks of students, and most young people would rather travel to Wrightsville/Wilmington or Myrtle Beach for their summer fun. I would not say STRs are off the table, but there is much hotter markets for sure, but I firmly believe STRs are quality driven products so opportunity strike where an investor is willing to meet it.
New Bern is not the hot look and sprint into for deals, but an investor who has a desire for affordable housing, or wants to tailor towards an more aging population then New Bern can be a potential location to look into.
As always looking for questions, comments, concerns, and any feedback. It's impossible to know everything about a market, so any value add information is expressly desired, and I appreciate it! I'm looking to connect with more people on here, so please reach out!
For more reading and sources:
https://datausa.io/profile/uni...
https://datausa.io/profile/geo...
https://www.census.gov/quickfa...
https://worldpopulationreview....
https://www.realtor.com/reales...
https://www.redfin.com/city/11...
https://www.newbernnc.gov/depa...
https://livingcost.org/cost/un...
https://www.neighborhoodscout....
Hi Jared,
Thank you for the post about New Bern. I love living here and investing here has really paid off.
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it!
How long have you been investing in the New Bern area?
I bought the first rental I have there in 2009. Great deal, but not an intentional investment. I made my first intentional move in 2015. I currently have 2 long-term rentals and 5 short-term rentals here.
Are you investing in Fayetteville?
Quote from @Patricia Taveras:
I bought the first rental I have there in 2009. Great deal, but not an intentional investment. I made my first intentional move in 2015. I currently have 2 long-term rentals and 5 short-term rentals here.
Are you investing in Fayetteville?
Love that! I am a licensed agent, and I work with a ton of investors in the Raleigh/Fayetteville areas.
I do too invest in real estate, but I must admit a lot of my related deals have all been on/near the west coast. I intend to start doing projects here locally very soon though!