RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Raleigh is currently the hottest real estate market in the country, according to a new ranking from the U.S. News & World Report.
It said ‘hottest’ was measured by the basics of healthy demand, supply and financing options, as the days of desperate buyers bidding thousands over asking prices and waiving inspections may be behind us.
The ranking used data from the U.S. Housing Market Index to weigh metropolitan areas across the country and give each of them a score from 1-100.
Raleigh was ranked the highest with a score of 71.7, and Durham was tied for third with a score of 67.3.
Sharon Evans is a broker and the owner of Triangle Experts. She was not surprised by Raleigh’s number one ranking.
She said things really started to take off during the pandemic.
“People coming, jobs coming, people coming because they can work anywhere,” Evans said. “The effect of being able to work from home and choosing where they want to live, this is a great place to live people and people figured that out and they’re coming in droves,” Evans said.
Evans said things cooled down near the end of 2022 when interest rates went up, but picked up again in January.
She said one issue the market’s facing is low inventory.
“Way more buyers than sellers still, inventory is still a dramatic problem,” Evans said.
Evans showed CBS 17 home listings and said there were about 700 in Raleigh. When she dropped the price range below $500,000 the supply was cut in about half, and then when the price was brought to $300,000, under 84 homes showed.
Homes go fast. Evans said many sellers strategically put their house up on a weekend and it’s gone by Monday, something that didn’t happen a few years ago.
The ranking found that the hottest housing markets included cities in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas, including Raleigh and Durham, Denver and Austin.
Markets to watch that improved the most between Nov. and Dec. 2022 were Portland, Oregon, Richmond, Virginia and St. Louis, Missouri, according to the ranking.
The hottest markets overall, with their respective scores, are as follows:
- Raleigh, North Carolina — 71.7
- Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado — 67.5
- Durham, North Carolina and Austin, Texas — 67.3
- Phoenix, Arizona — 66.9
- Richmond, Virginia — 66.8
- Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina and South Carolina — 66.2
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia — 65.9
- Charleston and North Charleston, South Carolina and Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro in Franklin, Tennessee — 65.8
- San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas — 65.2
- Jacksonville, Florida — 65.0
The median price of a home in the Raleigh area rose 8.3% year-over-year to $428,000 compared with a national figure of $388,000, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
It said the median rent in the Raleigh area rose 5.4% year-over-year to $1,744, which compares with a national median of $1,981.
The ranking pointed out that this comes as the job market in Raleigh is among the strongest in the country, gaining 35,600 jobs year-over-year through December 2022 (a rate of just over 5%) and featuring a low unemployment rate of 3.2%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said most of these jobs are in leisure and hospitality, financial activities and professional and business services.
The U.S. News & World Report also used media analysis to interpret the sentiment from more than 500 U.S. housing news articles.
For the Raleigh area, popular keywords in January included “North Carolina,” “Raleigh,” “Wake County” and “Durham.”
Other keywords included “apartment,” “price” and “real estate pricing.”
The U.S. News & World Report said this suggests continued interest in households moving to new homes for sale or rent in the City of Oaks.
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