Forbes Ranks Charlotte, NC. Housing Market As A Best Buy In 2014

Every year we hear what the best things to buy are and the best places to live. I decided to do a google search and came across a Forbes magazine article published on December 26, 2013 that listed what they felt were the 10 best places to purchase homes in 2014. Now like any list I read online I wanted to know how they got to the numbers ad what factors they placed into calculating why certain cities were considered a "Best Buy" in the housing market. They used data from market monitor and based it on cities with a population of at least 575,000 people. From there they based their analysis on population, home prices and local job economy. These are all good factors to base on whether the area is a good choice and area to purchase homes or if the prices have inflated to a point where the growth is already there. Fortunately, Charlotte, NC. has not done that. With a growing population caused by a lot of people relocating to the area because of the weather and job prospects the growth in the Charlotte area has been steady with people moving in and we have seen this steady of a growth over the past few years. Charlotte, NC. also did not see the drastic drop in home prices other parts of the country did. We did have a decline in home prices form the peak but not at the drop other parts of the country suffered. This has helped to keep less home owners underwater and helped keep the prices rather stable for the past couple of years with modest growth in prices. Last, Charlotte, NC. has seen a boom in job growth with the merger of Wachovia and Wells Fargo and relocating to the Charlotte area most of their headquarter jobs, being home to Duke Energy (one of the largest utility companies in the south) and with the influx of fortune 500 companies coming to the Charlotte area over the past few years. This has helped create jobs for them and the ever expanding infrastructure of Charlotte as well and the offspring of jobs it has created....Thus making Charlotte, NC. a desirable destination for job seekers. Based on this data Forbes figures the Charlotte, NC. housing market to increase by 23% over the next three years as they feel that the housing prices are down 15% below what the market value should be right now....This placed Charlotte, NC. as the third best city to purchase a house in on the Forbes list of best buy cities. So, if you are looking to buy a house in the Charlotte, NC. market this looks like it is going to shape up to be a great year to buy a house while prices are still affordable and interest rates are still low.... Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Helen Adams Realty Cell: 704-519-7895 ddicecco@helenadamsrealty.com www.davedicecco.com