What's Going On On The Island

The island business scene is really starting to come back to life.

With it being Easter weekend, there’s more going on than usual for this time of year. A number of local spots are open, and there are a few Easter egg hunts happening across the island — including one at the popular new Tide Table restaurant, Hollow Pines.

We’ve already seen some of the early-season favorites reopen, including Okie’s, Country Kettle Chowda, and others, and that momentum is continuing this week. Spots like Birdy’s Café, Wittingham Market, Fratelli’s, and Shore Good Donuts are all reopening this week — a clear sign that the season is right around the corner.

There’s also some exciting new additions across the island. Yoga Bohemia is opening a new location on the north end in Harvey Cedars, filling a much-needed fitness gap on the north end of the island.

In Ship Bottom, a new golf simulator is on the way, set to take over the old Dollar General location. As a golfer, I’m personally excited to finally have a spot to get swings in on the island, and I’m very intrigued to see how it does — especially in the shoulder seasons when there’s less to do.

On the flip side, not all the news is positive. Greenheads will not be reopening this year after the fire that destroyed their building this past fall — a tough loss for the island, especially as it was one of the only spots offering a healthier, quick dining option.

With the event calendar still relatively quiet this time of year, it’s actually a great opportunity to check out some of the island’s newer ventures. LBI Distillery, which just opened — I’ve heard good things and it’s definitely on my list to check out in the coming weeks.

Beau

What's Going On In Real Estate

Activity this past weekend cooled off a bit, as open house traffic and overall buyer activity were down compared to the previous two weekends.

It’s tough to say exactly what caused the shift. It could be as simple as the cooler temperatures, but there may also be something larger at play. The stock market has remained volatile, oil prices have risen sharply, and there are growing concerns around inflation, along with mortgage rates ticking back up. While LBI tends to be more insulated from macroeconomic factors than most markets, it’s not completely immune — and it’s something to keep an eye on as the spring market unfolds.

One interesting signal right now is that there are a couple of higher-end properties priced very competitively that are still sitting on the market — homes we would have expected to move already.

Inventory has also stalled out, sitting in the mid-120s for the past couple of weeks. There’s a chance we push into the 130s, but it would be surprising to see it move much higher than that.

Looking at this month’s closings, out of 22 homes sold, only one went for over asking price. The average close-to-list ratio came in at 96.09%, which continues to show that many sellers are still coming to market priced too aggressively.

Of those 22 closings, 11 were cash and 11 were financed. Year-to-date, we’re at 36 cash deals versus 33 financed. We’ve steadily seen cash become a larger share of the market over time — last year was roughly 50/50, and this year is trending slightly higher on the cash side.

Looking ahead, last April and May we added 86 new listings, so expect to see a continued wave of inventory hit the market over the next 4–6 weeks. That should be followed by the typical pullback as we head into Memorial Day and the start of the summer season.

Drew