RALEIGH – The value of Raleigh’s real estate market surged in 2021, growing the seventh-most of any market in the United States, a new analysis from Redfin shows.
Nationwide, Redfin found that the total value of homes in the United States grew by 18.6% or some $6 trillion in 2021.
According to Redfin’s report, Raleigh home values grew by 29.4% in 2021, ranking the region seventh in the nation. Austin, Texas, ranked first, with an increase of 39.2%. Other markets ranked ahead of Raleigh were Cape Coral, Fla., Grand Rapids, Mi., Phoenix, Az., Boise, Ida., and North Port-Sarasota, Fla.
Earlier this month, Zillow estimated that Raleigh added $50 billion in value in 2021—one-quarter of the region’s total estimated value, of $201 billion.
Affordability
But affordability is a concern for many, including the Wake County Board of Commissioners, who wrote in a statement that some 25% of residents are struggling to afford housing.
“The surge in housing values during the pandemic has widened the gap between homeowners and renters in America. Homeowners have seen their wealth increase significantly over the past year, while renters have missed out on those gains and are now grappling with rent inflation,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “The silver lining is that housing values didn’t just climb in large affluent cities. Homeowners in rural America, who don’t normally see substantial home-value increases, also reaped the benefits of a booming housing market.”
At the end of 2021, some 44% of North Carolina homeowners who have existing mortgages are now considered “equity rich,” a report from ATTOM Data Solutions found. And, North Carolina ranked second in the nation when it came to the growth in the percentage of homeowners considered “equity rich,” ATTOM found. Urban, suburban, and rural counties all seeing gains, despite Cumberland and Hoke Counties ranked as counties with the lowest share of “equity rich” owners.
Housing affordability in Triangle, across NC, a chief concern of business leaders at Economic Forecast Forum
Other trends
According to Redfin, the total value of single-family homes climbed 19.6% year over year to $29.2 trillion in December.
“By comparison, the value of multi-family properties climbed 15.6% to $1.3 trillion, the value of condos rose 15.4% to $6.8 trillion and the value of townhouses increased 15.3% to $1.3 trillion,” the report noted.
And homes owned by millennials increased in value by 34.3%, the analysis revealed, outpacing homes owned by any other generation.
“Millennials have taken up an increasing share of the U.S. housing market as they’ve grown into homeowning age, accounting for more than half of mortgage applications last year,” the report reads. “Many of them bought their first home in 2020—when housing values began to skyrocket—which meant they saw significant wealth gains during their first year of homeownership.”
Fairweather called the pandemic “somewhat of an equalizer when it comes to housing-market-value gains, at least on a percentage basis.”
As housing market booms, more NC homeowners now ‘equity rich’
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