RTP area (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) - falling prices

[Paul Gupta]

Hi everyone, I was initially pretty excited looking at the amazing value for money being offered in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, both in the student rental market as well as the mainstream market.  

Then I spoke to some local residents/realtors and examined some stats on zillow for recent sales, and their prior sales - and the market has stayed flat, or even declined while the rest of the country has enjoyed the recovery last 4 years.

I have some rentals in California, and while I dont expect CA type appreciation, the flat to negative trends seemed worrying, and indeed puzzling given the beauty I find in the area, the high quality of construction, and the solid employment fundamentals.

Any opinions on why prices are falling?

Thanks.

[Uriah D.]

Paul Gupta if you think the market here hasn't recovered from the recession then I need to see the numbers you are looking at. Zillow is awful and considering tmls is no longer giving data or vice versa to Zillow I wouldn't use it as a good research tool. There may be some areas that haven't quite made it to 2006-2007 prices, but those areas are not common and generally low income areas. Raleigh only saw a 15-20% decrease (average) some worse, some better during the recession. That is great considering a lot of places realized 30-50% decreases over the same time period.