Charlotte-A good place to own property.
A recent article confirms what Charlottean's have known for quite some time that our area is a great place to settle down and own property. Despite the slow down we are still in the running of best places to live.
Where Home Prices Are Hot Now Despite the Housing Slowdown
By Dean Treftz
From The Wall Street Journal Online
The housing news isn't all grim. Even as prices sag nationwide, there are several cities in the country where home values are climbing smartly.
Portland, Ore., Boise, Idaho, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Houston, Austin, and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., are among the cities bucking the national trend. Homes' appreciation there between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006 far exceeded the national average of 5.9%, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. In some markets, like Boise and Seattle, the appreciation jumped well into the double digits.
"All real estate is local, despite the headlines," says Lawrence Yun, the senior economist for the National Association of Realtors. Nationwide, the median existing-home price fell 1.3%, to $212,800 in February from $215,700 in February 2006, according to preliminary NAR statistics
Most of the cities also have one or more strong industries to drive their economies -- colleges and technology in Raleigh, banks in Charlotte, energy in Houston and aerospace in Seattle. And all have education levels above the national average.
There's no single secret of these cities' apparent success, but many of them missed the housing boom of the past five years. From 2001 to 2005, annual appreciation in these cities was between 2% and 5%, far slower than the 7% to 12% national average, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (OFHEO calculates appreciation based on repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties.) Now, prices are playing catch-up.
I am delighted that we do not have to resort to enticements to sell homes, i.e. a car, boat or big screen TV and remain focused on our effort to do sensible real estate. Some are worried that other towns can become targets of boom or bust, as is the case in Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix or Las Vegas. If you like the complete article then shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you a link to the aticle.
barbara@barbarakeefauver.com