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.

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