Raleigh area home prices rose nearly twice as much as wages, study says
Housing prices in Wake County increased nearly twice as much as local incomes over the past five years, a new study shows.
Housing prices in the Raleigh metropolitan area rose 1.7 times as much as median wages from 2014 to 2019, according to a study published by Construction Coverage, which publishes research relevant to the construction industry.
Construction Coverage used data from Zillow and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to reach that number. The bureau defines the Raleigh metropolitan area as Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties.
From 2014 to 2019, housing prices in the Raleigh area increased roughly 30% while wages rose 17%.
Last year, the median home price and median annual wage were $278,496 and $41,640 respectively.
The study did not differentiate between new home sales and resales.
The Raleigh area fared better than the national average. Nationwide in that five-year span, housing prices increased 2.6 times more than median wages.
Housing prices rose by almost the same rate in Raleigh as the rest of the country, but median wages increased by roughly 17%, compared to roughly 12% nationally.
Of all the large metro areas in the country — 1 million or more people — Raleigh ranked 43rd out of 53.
A seller’s market
In September, property resales in Wake County stayed on the market an average of just 18 days, according to Triangle Multiple Listing Services, a database management service for the real estate industry. A year ago the average was 26 days.
The median sale price for September was nearly $340,000, up 8% from last year.
The number of homes on the market dropped 46% from 4,425 in September 2019 to just 2,374 last month.
Statewide statistics
North Carolina housing prices overall increased over twice as much as wages, ranking 17th in the country.
From 2014 to 2019, housing prices statewide rose by roughly 29% while annual wages increased by 13.5%.
In 2019, the median home price in North Carolina was $201,243, and the median annual wage was $36,910.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:10 PM.