Navassa is a Brunswick County town near the Brunswick and Cape Fear rivers, just west of Wilmington.
Discover Local CommunitiesThe community has deep Gullah Geechee and industrial history alongside wetlands, river landscapes and ongoing redevelopment work. Environmental conditions and land-use history should be reviewed through official records for a specific site.
Navassa has a small-town, low-density pattern with regional trips typically made by car. Community initiatives increasingly connect history, conservation and recreation.
Regional conservation and recreation planning around Navassa emphasizes river access, heritage and restored landscapes.
Brunswick County Schools serves the town. Attendance must be verified for the exact address using current district information.
Everyday dining and shopping choices are broader in nearby Leland and Wilmington; local offerings are limited.
Navassa is a small town in Brunswick County on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, immediately across the water from Wilmington and adjoining Leland to the south, and it carries the lowest median value of any market in the Wilmington area. Navassa homes for sale are few enough at any one time that no published price range describes the town reliably, and the figures below should be read with that in mind. Zillow's figure for Navassa is about $246,600, against Leland at about $371,700, Wilmington at about $387,600, and Belville at about $319,800. The town sits between the Brunswick River, Sturgeon Creek, and the Cape Fear, which gives it substantial water frontage for its size and puts it minutes from a city of considerable size.
Very little market data exists for Navassa beyond that index figure. No median sale price, days on market, sales volume, or price per square foot could be found for the town as a named market, which reflects its size rather than any peculiarity. Brunswick County context is the best available substitute: the county recorded a single-family median of $438,945 in June 2026, up 1.4 percent, with months of supply down to 5.2 and single-family homes achieving about 97.9 percent of list price. Navassa sits far below that county figure, and any buyer or seller here should work from local comparables rather than from either the county or the Zillow index.
One matter belongs in any serious discussion of this market. The Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp Superfund Site occupies roughly 100 acres in the town, a former creosote wood-treating plant that operated from 1936 into the 1970s and was dismantled around 1980. EPA added it to the National Priorities List in 2010 and remediation is active: work on one operable unit is complete, a proposed plan for a 31.7-acre marsh section was issued in August 2026 with public comment open to mid-September, and a contaminated soil stockpile is scheduled for removal to an approved landfill by November 2026. EPA records place residential property across North Navassa Road to the west of the site. A buyer should read the EPA record for themselves and establish the position for any specific parcel.
The Andy Bovender Team serves Navassa from Compass offices across the Carolinas, including Wilmington minutes east across the river, alongside Charlotte, Charleston, Columbia, Fort Mill, Greenville, Lake Murray, and the Outer Banks. Two things follow. First, on a market this small with almost no published data, pricing depends on local comparables and on judgement rather than on any index. Second, the environmental record here is public, documented, and specific, and the right response to it is to read it rather than to rely on summary: the EPA site page and the trust performing the remediation both publish current documents.
Minutes From Wilmington at a Fraction of the Price
Navassa sits across the Cape Fear from Wilmington with an index value around $246,600 against the city's $387,600. Nothing else this close to Wilmington is priced anywhere near it.
Three Waterways for a Town This Size
The town sits between the Brunswick River, Sturgeon Creek, and the Cape Fear, which gives it more water frontage per acre than most places on this coast and puts boating and fishing at the doorstep.
Brunswick County Taxes, Wilmington Access
Navassa is in Brunswick County rather than New Hanover, which means a different county tax structure while remaining minutes from Wilmington's employers, hospitals, and airport. Confirm the current rates for a specific address.
Leland's Growth Next Door
Leland adjoins Navassa to the south and has been one of the fastest-growing parts of the region, carrying the retail, restaurants, and services that a small town does not. Everything Navassa lacks is a few minutes away.
A Small Town With a Community Center
The Navassa Community Center on Main Street serves as the town's public meeting place and hosts the public sessions on local matters, which for a town this size is a real civic asset.
Habitat Restoration Under Way
Federal and state trustees have approved a program of habitat restoration projects in the Cape Fear basin connected to the town, with marsh and riverine work planned. That is public investment in the local environment and it is worth following.
Navassa is a small town rather than a set of areas, so what varies is position relative to the water, to Leland, and to the Superfund site. Three groupings and one set of questions cover it.
The Residential Streets West of Navassa Road
EPA records place the town's residential property across North Navassa Road to the west of the Superfund site, and this is where most of Navassa's housing sits. Product runs to modest detached houses on generous lots, some older and some newer, at the lowest prices in the Wilmington area. For a buyer, the diligence here is ordinary in most respects and specific in one: establish the property's position relative to the site boundary, read the EPA record for the operable unit nearest it, and ask whether any environmental assessment has been done on the parcel itself. Those are answerable questions with a public paper trail behind them, and a buyer should not rely on a summary from anyone.
Water-Adjacent Property
The town sits between the Brunswick River, Sturgeon Creek, and the Cape Fear, and property with water frontage or proximity is the top of a modest market. Establish dock permit status where relevant and water depth at varying tides, and obtain the elevation certificate and base flood elevation for the specific parcel, because a town on three water bodies has a varied flood profile. On the creek and marsh side specifically, note that EPA's Operable Unit 3 proposed plan addresses a 31.7-acre marsh section of the site, so a buyer looking at marsh-adjacent property should establish where that boundary runs relative to the parcel before offering.
The Leland Side and Newer Development
Toward Leland to the south, the area carries newer development and the retail and services that Navassa itself does not, and property on that side trades on the shortest run to them. Product includes newer subdivision housing, generally with homeowners associations. Read the association documents, ask what remains to be built nearby, and confirm which municipality an address actually sits in, because Navassa and Leland adjoin and the boundary determines taxes, services, and which town's rules apply. On a market where Navassa indexes at about $246,600 and Leland at about $371,700, which side of the line a property sits on is a material question.
What to Establish Before an Offer
Five questions decide a Navassa purchase and the first two do not arise in most markets. The environmental position: where the parcel sits relative to the Kerr-McGee site boundary, which operable unit is nearest, what stage its remediation has reached, and whether any assessment has been done on the property itself. The public record: read the EPA site documentation and the trust's published materials directly rather than relying on any summary, including this one. Then the ordinary questions. Which municipality the parcel is in, since Navassa and Leland adjoin and index values differ by well over $100,000. Flood zone and base flood elevation, on a town bounded by three water bodies. And what comparable local sales actually show, since no published market data exists for the town.
Navassa is a small residential town with almost no commercial development of its own, and a search for restaurants in the town returns businesses in Leland next door. That is the accurate position rather than a gap in the research.
Everyday shopping and dining happen in Leland, immediately south, which has grown substantially and carries grocery stores, pharmacies, retail, restaurants, and services, including The Pit Backyard BBQ on Olde Waterford Way and Backspin Social on Ploof Road. Wilmington is minutes east across the Cape Fear with the region's full range, its hospitals, its university, and Wilmington International Airport, covered on its own page. Buyers should understand that living in Navassa means using Leland for daily needs and Wilmington for everything larger, and that the trade for that is a median value well over $100,000 below either.
Navassa's own recreation is its water. The town sits between the Brunswick River, Sturgeon Creek, and the Cape Fear, which supports boating, kayaking, crabbing, and fishing, and gives a small town an unusual amount of shoreline for its size. Federal and state trustees have approved a program of marsh and riverine habitat restoration in the Cape Fear basin connected to the town, which over time is intended to improve fish and wildlife habitat in these waters. The Navassa Community Center on Main Street serves as the town's public meeting place.
Beyond the town, the position does the work. Leland adjoins to the south with the area's retail, restaurants, and services. Wilmington is minutes east across the river with its riverfront downtown, its restaurants, its airport, and everything a small town does not have, covered on its own page. Southport and the Brunswick beaches run south down the coast with their own pages, and Wrightsville Beach lies beyond Wilmington. The practical summary is that Navassa is the most affordable address within minutes of Wilmington, on three waterways, with an active and publicly documented environmental remediation in the town that any buyer should read the record on before proceeding.
Navassa is known as a small, fast-growing town in northern Brunswick County, set along the Brunswick River just west of Wilmington. It is recognized for its affordability, its deep Gullah Geechee heritage, and a wave of new-home construction unlocked by the Interstate 140 bypass, which placed downtown Wilmington about ten minutes away.
Living in Navassa offers an affordable foothold near Wilmington with a strong sense of community and history. Residents reach downtown Wilmington in about ten minutes, lean on neighboring Leland for shopping and dining, and take part in traditions like the Navassa Homecoming and the North Carolina Rice Festival. The town is investing in heritage sites and riverfront access.
Homes in Navassa are among the most affordable in the greater Wilmington area, with many priced in the $200,000s to low $300,000s and new construction higher. Prices resemble where nearby Leland sat a decade ago, which is part of the town's appeal to first-time buyers and investors.
Navassa offers traditional single-family homes, larger properties on spacious lots, and a growing supply of new construction and townhomes in communities such as Cedar Hill Landing and River Bend at Cedar Hill, built by national builders. Some properties offer river or wooded views.
Navassa sits in northern Brunswick County, North Carolina, along the Brunswick River about five miles west of Wilmington across the Cape Fear River, next to Leland. The Interstate 140 bypass and US-17 provide quick access to Wilmington, the Brunswick beaches to the south, and Leland's shopping and services nearby.
The Andy Bovender Team pairs deep Carolinas market knowledge with the reach of Compass. Expect straight answers, sharp preparation, and a process that stays simple, whether you are buying, selling, or both.
