A house built on stilts dramatically collapsed into the sea in North Carolina.

Footage captured by Brian Wharton shows the beachfront, two-storey, wood-shingled home already down in the surf on the Outer Banks.

The residence, located at the north end of Hatteras Island, fell on Tuesday afternoon, scattering nail-studded debris across the sand.

Mike Barber, a spokesman for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, confirmed that the structure was unoccupied at the time of the collapse.

He said the homeowner had hired a contractor to work primarily near the site to remove the bulk of the remaining structure and surrounding debris associated with the incident.

Mike added: 'Seashore staff are out today, cleaning up the beach to the south of the collapse site.

The collapse brings the total number of houses claimed by the Atlantic Ocean to 12 in the past five years.

Authorities said the previous 11 collapses since May 2020 all occurred in the small village of Rodanthe, the state's easternmost point, made famous by novelist Nicholas Sparks.

During the state's recent brush with Hurricane Erin, many locals had been watching two beachfront houses there, but they survived the surf.

The latest house was located less than a mile from the iconic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was moved 2,900ft inland in 1999 to protect it from coastal erosion.