All Real Estate Really is Local
So every day you hear the doom and gloom on the state of the Real Estate economy. Well folks, when you look at the National picture, it certainly is alarming. According to the 4th quarter Housing Price Indexproduced by the good folks at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight for the 4th quarter of 08, housing prices declined by 8.24% nationally from the period of December 2007-2008. That’s terrible news for sure, but what do those numbers mean to us here in the Triangle? Well, not what you might think.
If you look at North Carolina specifically, you will find that the same report ranks us at number 25 in 1yr appreciation with a property appreciation rate of -3.66%. While that’s not a great number, it’s a far cry short of the staggering losses being seen in states like Nevada (-28.24%), California (-25.52%) and Florida(-23.96%). So while this statistic is not really news to celebrate, here in NC, things could be a lot worse.
So again you might ask, what does that mean to us here in the Southwest Wake? Well, that’s the good part and I am really happy to deliver this news. Out of the 292 metropolitan areas covered by this report, the Raleigh-Cary, NC area was raked 18th for appreciation year over year with 2.96% appreciation. Yes, that’s right, POSITIVE appreciation. So what does that mean? It means that despite the terrible statistics from the national and even state level, if you bought a house in the Raleigh-Cary area last year, your house is likely worth more now that what you paid for it. Is this staggering growth? No. But frankly in light of the national picture, I’ll take it.
One of the things that you’ll notice about our local market here is that we didn’t experience the insane amount of appreciation that occurred during the last few years of the “Housing Bubble”. But looking at this latest Housing Price Index report, you’ll notice that the areas that benefited the most during those times are the ones that are hurting the most right now. Once again proof of the validity of that old adage, “slow and steady wins the race”. So the next time you hear the news anchors talking about the miserable real estate situation, take it with a grain of salt. A wise man once said that all politics are local, and that same sentiment certainly applies to Real Estate as well.
