Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors

6 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 mountains and the coast,” he describes. The residents that make up the region also tend to share favorable attributes that help to prop up the housing market, McBrayer mentions. “Many of our residents have a much higher average level of education and income,” he notes. “This is due in part to having three major universities including UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and North Carolina State as well as several more colleges and a great community college system we call Wake Tech.” “It is also due to the fact that a lot of high- tech companies like Epic Games and Apple to biotech companies like Tempus and Roche are operating here and many others are coming or expanding,” McBrayer states. Along with advocating, educating, and overseeing its members, RRAR also keeps its finger on the pulse of the local real estate market and can provide up-to-date year-over-year stats. “Since 2012 houses have pretty much appreciated. Before 2007, the appreciation rate averaged about 3.5% per year,” McBrayer says. “Over the last several years appreciation has averaged over 20% and no one I’ve talked to expects it to go below 10% for the next few years because our market continues to be a destination market. Just in Wake County alone, we see an average net increase of 65 people a day. So many of those are consumers moving to the area to get away from high taxes, high crime rates, high prices and over-regulation in other states such as New York, New Jersey and California.” The association has identified key areas that may serve as challenges for the area and chief among those challenges is the need for more housing, especially affordable housing. “It is probably the biggest problem we face. Builders can’t build houses fast enough, so more people than ever before are renting,” McBrayer outlines. “I don’t think they are renting by choice, rather they simply can’t find a home that meets their RALE IGH REGIONAL ASSOCIAT ION OF REALTORS