AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

The Raleigh real estate market is one of the fastest recovering and apparently healthy housing markets in the United States, especially in the South, where cities such as Atlanta have been particularly hard hit in the aftermath of the economic crisis. Raleigh has implemented a substantial number of governmental efforts in order to ease the financial suffering of families in the city, including a series of protections from foreclosures. According to an October 1, 2009 article in the Citizen-Times, “North Carolinas who face the loss of their homes through foreclosure or harassment from unfair debt collectors now have new protections under the law, Attorney General Roy Cooper said today. ..The new law, which starts today, will also protect consumers from an aggressive new breed of debt collectors called debt buyers.”

A nationwide economic status report indicated that real estate in Raleigh is among the strongest and healthiest in the country.  Although it has improved considerably since the last Hanley Wood Market Intelligence Report, Raleigh was ranked as the number 6 healthiest housing market in the United States. According to the February 2009 report, “Another state capital with multiple universities, Raleigh was still adding jobs at a 1.9 percent annual rate through the third quarter of last year. With a population growth of any top metro market in the country over the last five years: nearly 5 percent annually. Though the price of a median home here, $221,900, is above the national average, it is well below other cities in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.”

This is in contrast to the overall trend of the American south, which, according to a September 24, 2009 article in the New York Times, experienced a flat level of home re-sales. The article, by the Associated Press, stated that “Sales of previously owned homes were flat in the South last month, the third straight month the region avoided annual sales declines as consumers took advantage of low interest rates and the first-time homebuyer tax credit.” However, according to a September 9, 2009 article in the Triangle Business Journal, “Home prices in the Raleigh-Durham area are forecast to fall by 3 percent over the next year, according to a new report from Cary company Local Market Monitor.”