Raleigh-Cary Housing Market: #1 Metro Area To Outshine In 2012

Raleigh-Cary NC is the #1 metro housing market in the nation that is expected to outshine all the rest.

Despite a steep drop in sales, the Raleigh-Cary market saw considerable price appreciation last year, with its median sales price for single-family homes jumping 7.3 percent from third-quarter 2010 to third-quarter 2011.

At $224,300, the Raleigh-Cary metro had the highest median sales price among the 10 markets on this list and was the only market with a median sales price above the U.S. median. Nonetheless, its affordability rate stayed above the national level, with 73.6 percent of its homes affordable to households earning the area’s median income, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

The Raleigh market is buoyed by a young, educated population that grew a whopping 41.8 percent from 2000-2010, making it the fourth fastest-growing metro in the nation during that period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The area’s population is expected to rise another 35.7 percent — faster than any other metro — by 2020, according to population projections by data analysis firm ProximityOne. The firm expects Raleigh-Cary’s population to grow 3.4 percent between 2011 and 2012 — by far the fastest estimated growth rate among the 10 markets.

The nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Raleigh-Cary metro area in November was 7.8 percent, compared to 8.2 percent nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As a state capital, the Raleigh market is bolstered by jobs in the public sector, but also by those in the health care, technology, and education industries.

Located in an area known as the “the Research Triangle,” the area’s major employers include the State of North Carolina, the Wake County Public School System, North Carolina State University, WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Rex Healthcare, Progress Energy, Duke University & Medical Center, the University of North Carolina, IBM, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Global economic analysis firm Moody’s Analytics predicts the metro area will see 1.9 percent job growth between third-quarter 2011 and third-quarter 2012, compared to 0.9 percent growth nationwide.