What's the real estate market in Raleigh doing?

May 30, 2006 5:10 AM

What's the real estate market in Raleigh doing?

I'm living (with my wife and young child) in Alexandria, VA, and we are considering a relocation to Raleigh, NC. I've been to the area a few times before, but not with the thought that I'd be moving there. There's no denying that real estate here in the DC is a vastly different monster than it was last year. There's been a stark shift from sellers' market to buyers' market.

But what's the condition of the market in Raleigh? Is the same thing going on? Quick cooling of a overheated market, maybe? Or just to a lesser degree. Or is it steadier footing?

Sure, I can talk to a real estate agent in NC (in fact, I have), but my experience has been that in the agents' zeal to separate you from your money while doing the least amount of work, they'll tell you that market is hot hot hot, no matter what the reality is.

Anyone with knowledge of the two markets care to toss in their two cents?

posted by clearlynuts to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Anecdotal evidence, from someone who lives in New York City and works one week a month from Raleigh:

In my mom's (nice and desirable) neighborhood, I am noticing a higher-than-usual number of homes for sale, and they have been on the market for several weeks, suggesting a softening of the market that would work to a buyer's advantage.

E-mail me if you want the name of a reputable broker in the Raleigh area. I can get recommendations from friends who live down there.
posted by enrevanche at 5:49 AM on May 30, 2006

I am not a real estate agent, but my husband and I recently spent time house shopping in Raleigh/Wake County. We are recent transplants from overseas, so I have no basis for comparison on any other American market. Raleigh proper has very few new residential units, although downtown, a few new high rise buildings are going up, and sales for these upscale apartments/condos appears to be brisk. Beyond the downtown area, within the city itself, there are very few new homes for sale. Outside of Raleigh, but still within Wake County, especially to the south/west of the city, new housing developments are going up faster than one would imagine possible. IMO, they are depressingly similar, shoddily constructed and easily dismissed. The area is still growing - Wake County is adding a new high school, and discussing the possibility of going to a year round schedule simply to handle the influx of students. I read somewhere recently that the school district has been taking on 7,000 new students a year recently.
We found housing prices to be reasonable, for US$ 300,000, you can get a large home with a good yard in one of the 'burbs - but the price you pay is exactly that: you have to live in the anonymous 'burbs. I am not sure if this market would be deemed a buyer's or a seller's market. There are many homes for sale at reasonable prices, which seem to sell quickly. On the other hand, cheap new homes are popping up as quickly as mushrooms. Building does not seem to be slowing.
In the end, we opted out. We have a teenager, and we didn't want to experience any upheaval with a new high school/year round schedule, etc... We decided to go to Chapel Hill instead, Carrboro to be more exact. The freaky hippy vibe over here is much more to our liking.
posted by msali at 7:13 AM on May 30, 2006

What msali ended up doing was going to be my suggestion. I have no knowledge of the real estate market, and only lived in the area for grad school, but was going to say that I find Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro to be much more charming areas than Raleigh/RTP. Beautiful big old houses and nicer apartment buildings (check out all the old tobacco warehouses if you're looking for an apartment).
posted by echo0720 at 7:19 AM on May 30, 2006

Here's a snapshot of residential projects in downtown Raleigh, where I've lived for 10+ years. Older neighborhoods like Boylan Heights, Oakwood and Mordecai have the character the outer burbs lack. Otherwise Raleigh is largely unremarkable. I agree with previous comments about the funk factor in Carrboro (openly gay mayor there :) and Durham.

If you'd like a realtor recommendation in Raleigh, shoot me an email.
posted by yoga at 8:32 AM on May 30, 2006

Raleigh-Durham MLS Inventory and 25th, 50th and 75th percential median price trends
posted by de void at 8:46 AM on May 30, 2006

Yay Carrboro! I lived on Davie Street for a while. Much better than Raleigh, and I commuted to the research triangle fiasco* every day for work, and loved coming home to Carrboro, the only US town to celebrated Fête de la Musique.

*intersection of NC 54 and NC 55
posted by billtron at 12:42 PM on May 30, 2006

Search on Zillow for houses, find a neighborhood you're looking for. You can do some rudimentary trend analysis on comparable homes in the neighborhood you're looking for.

We had a similar experience while house shopping in the East Bay are of San Francisco.
posted by iamabot at 12:51 PM on May 30, 2006