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.

Forbes Ranks Raleigh Number 4 In Nation For Technology Jobs

Forbes magazine has named Raleigh number four on its 2011 list of the top cities for technology jobs.

The Forbes article states that technology jobs have outpaced the overall rate of new employment by four times.  Number one on the list is Seattle, followed by Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and Raleigh.  Salt Lake City, Utah, rounds out the top five.

Seattle is home to Microsoft, Amazon.com, and Boeing, and, according to the article, “has enjoyed the steadiest and most sustained tech growth over the past decade.”

Forbes used the latest high-tech employment data collected by EMSI, an economic modeling firm, for creating the list.  An outside analysis group then charted cities that have gained the most manufacturing, software and services jobs over the past 10 years.  They allowed for factors such as concentration of tech employment and used the definition of high tech industries from TechAmerica, a large technology trade association.

Raleigh was one of only 11 of the cities Forbes analyzed which had overall tech growth in the last decade.  The article says cities like Raleigh, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Columbus which have major research universities have somewhat of an edge, but “it’s one thing to produce scientists and engineers; it’s another to generate employment for them over the long term.”  San Jose and San Francisco are cited as areas with large academic centers but weak tech job growth.

While Raleigh had job growth of 2.8 percent over the past decade and 6 percent over the past two years, other southern tech hubs such as Houston, Dallas and Austin lost between 6 and 25 percent of their technology jobs over the past 10 years.  Detroit and New Orleans are seen as possible up-and-coming tech regions.

~ Raleigh Ranks #4 In USA For Technology Jobs

 

 

Raleigh : Forbes Magazine's #1 Place For Business And Careers

Raleigh Is America’s #1 Place To Do Business

Raleigh once again topped Forbes Magazine’s 13th annual list of The Best Places for Business and Careers.  Raleigh, N.C. is noted as one of those locales with a strong university presence helping fuel growth in the area. Raleigh and nearby Durham (ranked No. 31) get a strong boost from three elite schools in the surrounding area in University of North Carolina, Duke University & North Carolina State.

“Low business costs (18 percent below the national average) and a smart labor force (42 percent have a college degree) make Raleigh, North Carolina’s Capital City, an attractive spot for employers like Progress Energy,” the magazine wrote. “Job seekers get it: The net migration rate to Raleigh was the 2nd highest in the U.S. over the past five years.”

Forbes Magazine’s ranking of Best Places looks at the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. These range in size from the New York City metro, with to 11.6 million people, to Laredo, Texas, home to 252,000 people. They consider 12 metrics relating to job growth (past and projected), costs (business and living), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth.

Forbes also factors in quality of life issues like crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration patterns. Lastly they included the number of highly ranked colleges in an area per their annual college rankings.

Slideshow: Raleigh Ranks #1 Place For Business and Careers

via realestateraleighdurham.com

Raleigh-Cary, NC : #2 Metro Market For New-Home Sales Share

Raleigh-Cary, NC #2 Real Estate Market : New Home Sales Share

Top 10 Markets for New-Home Sales Share (2010)
Metropolitan Statistical Area	New-home Sales	Total Sales Total	New-home Sale Share
El Paso, Texas	2,425	9,701	25.0%
Raleigh-Cary, N.C.	3,580	16,975	21.1%
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	6,891	35,407	19.5%
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C.	3,860	20,512	18.8%
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas	5,831	32,088	18.2%
Jacksonville, Fla.	3,909	22,749	17.2%
Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa	1,446	9,154	15.8%
Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, S.C.	1,464	9,622	15.2%
Oklahoma City, Okla.	3,019	21,017	14.4%
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.	3,380	25,342	13.3%

Note: 9 out of the Top 10 Markets Are In The South

Methodology: CoreLogic sorted the markets with the highest share of new-home sales. The analysis was performed on 2010 annual data for the top 100 markets with the most sales. It's very well-known that there are a lot of distressed markets and which markets they are. There is much less information on which markets are doing well. But instead of choosing performance, CoreLogic chose new-home sales, because if a market is near the top for new sales share then it's most likely doing relatively well.

Source: Raleigh-Cary, NC #2 Market For New-Home Sales Share