Report: NC Home Prices Among Most Stable in Nation
The value of homes in North Carolina puts the state into some stable territory considering the number of elements currently shifting during the current economic downturn.
The Bureau of Business Research at East Carolina University found that the average price of a home in North Carolina — the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index — stood at $185,180 at the end of the first quarter of this year. While the state’s home prices are not the highest nationwide, North Carolina’s most recent figure remains unchanged. That placed the state into exclusive company.
According to the bureau’s report, North Carolina is one of only 12 states where the average price of a home remains unchanged from the maximum value tabulated since 1995. Joining North Carolina on that list were Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. North Carolina’s average home price also was higher than more than half of those select states.
Conversely, some states have seen home prices slip anywhere from 5.15 to 28.75 percent. California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida are part of the well-publicized group heading that contingent.
Jim Kleckley, director of the Bureau of Business Research at East Carolina University, explained that the reason his office produced this report was to counteract the inundation of negative news about housing that’s gripped the national media. He wanted to point out that although North Carolina’s housing prices didn’t increase as much as in other states during the past nine years, their stability is placing the state into an advantageous place.
“I think it’s important when you look at housing that for the most part that tends to be the biggest investment that families make,” Kleckley said. “Given the drop in the stock market over the past year, the fact that housing prices have remained stable really says that the equity in your house is stable, too.
“In terms of refinancing, the equity you had a year ago or two years ago didn’t fall dramatically over time,” he went on to highlight. “That says something about your ability to retire or perhaps take out a second mortgage and help your kids through college.
“It’s one of the good things (about North Carolina) that certainly isn’t the case in other parts of the country,” Kleckley added.
The theme of stability continued as Kleckley’s team analyzed data from some of North Carolina’s cities. In places such as Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory and Jacksonville, the average home price also remained unchanged during the first quarter as compared to the highest point since 1995.
Kleckley reiterated that housing statistics can be an indicator of an economic turnaround. And for North Carolina, this data reveals an encouraging future.
“We thought it was important to bring that information to light and introduce people to this housing index,” Kleckley said. “When the economy improves in North Carolina, in a lot of ways, in many parts of the state, we don’t have to make up for lost time.”
Comments
I have family in Florida and I have seen home values plummet there. Many people are moving here (to the Carolinas) as your article stated. But as Mr Albee suggested, where are they going to work? I am a realtor, which means I do not have income right now. I am trying to find part-time work to supplement during this housing crisis. My husband has been out of work since December 4, 2008. He worked in a cabinet factory as a finisher. The cabinet factory gave all it's contracts to the China plant, and closed it's doors here in Statesville, NC. Before he worked in the factory building cabinets, my husband was a subcontractor and installed cabinets. He attempted to go back to that job, only to learn that it now only paid $9. per hour (75% decrease). This is because there are so many installers, desperate to have the job, that they are drastically under-bidding each other. (By the way, $9./hr doesn't even begin to cover the gas to get to the job, as installers are sent in a 100 mile radius.) President Obama is really trying. I can see that. As a realtor, I can tell that his stimulus tax credit is working, slowly and steadily. However, the issue of sending our jobs overseas must be addressed. NC textile industry has become extinct and it seems that other factory-work industries are following. Where are we all going to work???
VERY INTERESTING, HOWEVER POWERS TO BE HAVEN'T COME TO THE LIGHT YET. WE NEED TO LOWER INTEREST RATES ON MORTAGES,AND STOP SENDING EVERYTHING OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!SO WE CAN HAVE JOBS THAT HELP THE AMERICAN ECONOMY NOT CHINA'S !!!!!!
Amen to Mr. Albee's comment. Let's start thinking and caring about The USA, instead of those countries that care nothing about our wellbeing.
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