The North Carolina Unemployment Rate recently hit 10.8% which is 7.7% higher than January of 1999.? In one short year, the NC unemployment rate has jumped over 5%.? There is no doubt that this is going to strongly affect the housing market and home prices in this southern state.? In the last year while unemployment has increased over 5%, the median home price in Raleigh has decreased from $252,127 to $246,600, a mere 2.2%.

The Raleigh job market is remotely stabilized due to government/education jobs.? Being the capital city ensures that many government workers will help to keep the unemployment rate “relatively” low.? Raleigh is also a city with a large number of universities and colleges in the area.? North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are comprised of over 100,000 students that need educators and administration.

The problem that the state of North Carolina is seeing is that the once dominate furniture industry has been shipped overseas.? Many workers that used to have stable jobs in the Triad area have found themselves filing for unemployment as the major industries in the area have cut back or outsourced.

Google recently announced plans to build a data center in Lenoir, North Carolina which will create many jobs but there is only so much that one major company can do.? There is no doubt that these jobs created by Google will be highly sought after by recent college graduates, but it is very unlikely that those individuals who were laid off by the local plant or furniture ship will be able to land a job at the biggest internet search engine provider in the world, which will cause the NC unemployment rate to climb even more.

Tourism has been a strong revenue producer for the state of North Carolina in the past but that has recently changed as tourists are not willing to travel great distances in the current recession.? The state of North Carolina is very large and it takes a great deal of time to travel.? If you live in the mountains and want to take a trip to the beach, it could take well over seven hours to make the long haul by vehicle.? From the capital city of Raleigh to the coast and to the mountains it is no more than three to four hours, but after going once a year many residents are reluctant to return multiple times.

The Research Triangle Park located between Raleigh and Durham has often employed a large amount of technology workers in the state.? Recently, IBM and some of the other major players at RTP have made large job cuts to reduce expenses, costs and overhead.? It is likely that many of the smaller research and technology companies will continue to do the same as the economy has yet to get much better in the area; once again, causing the NC Unemployment rate to rise.

Part time jobs also seem to be few and far between as the state of North Carolina grew too fast much like many other states during the 1990s and early 2000s.? As you are driving through the state, you see many areas that were cleared for construction of retail establishments but have been abandoned.? There are many companies that are new to the North Carolina scene and tried to get a grip on the market but they grew too quick.? Companies like Walgreens, Aldi, and HH Gregg all entered the North Carolina market with hopes of enormous growth.? The definitely saw initial growth but it has stunted with the unemployment rate skyrocketing.

With this knowledge, you must ask yourself, why have home prices in the state of North Carolina only fallen 2.2%?? There are some markets that have fallen over 20% in the last year alone so what makes North Carolina so special.? Well, the price of homes in the state did not skyrocket the way they did in the bubble states of California, Arizona, Las Vegas and Florida.? There was a steady increase in prices but there was not a parabolic rise as in other places.

The slow and steady growth of home prices allowed markets to work themselves out in the state of North Carolina.? Now, as many other states are seeing home prices drop over 2% a month, no less a year, North Carolina is seeing a stabilization.? This has been the case since the recession started but it is likely that things are going to change in the very near future.? I have family members and friends who have put houses on the market in the last six months and they are getting no offers for their asking prices.? One of my close friends did sell his house but he had to take a 5% loss on a home he bought in 2006.

This is becoming all too common in North Carolina.? Charlotte and Raleigh used to be cities that were growing extremely fast and were often tauted as the best places to live in America.? Cary, NC, a suburb of Raleigh, was between #1 and #5 on the list of best places to live in America for six consecutive years.? The high education level, low crime rate and suitablity of living make the state a wonderful place to live and raise a family but we are seeing jobs disappear on a daily basis.

Through the strong growth period of the 1990s and early 2000s jobs were aplenty in North Carolina.? You could drive through any city and see “now hiring” signs littering the road and billboards.? This is just not the case anymore.? Potential employees have to go into establishments and beg just to get an interview.? Friends of mine who work in retail say they get at least ten calls a day compared to zero a year ago.

No one really knows where home prices are going to go in the state of North Carolina but one can only imagine that the direction will eventually be downward.? If unemployment has risen 5% and home prices have only dropped 2% something has to give.? Unfortunately, it is likely that home prices will fall; at least until we see job growth return to the great state of North Carolina.