CHARLOTTE METRO REAL ESTATE TRENDS AND STATS

Report: NC Home Prices Among Most Stable in Nation
July 9th, 2009 9:57 AM
by Nick Zulovich | Jul. 7, 2009

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.”

Posted in:General
Posted by Philip Jernigan, GRI, ABR on July 9th, 2009 9:57 AMPost a Comment

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