Raleigh ranks in the top five most stable real estate markets, according to Bloomberg Weekly. It was an interesting study going back as far as records could be found to 1979, (I guess when computers entered the market). Measuring the 50 largest markets, and comparing prices over 5 year ownership increments, the retrospective proved what we already knew.
Raleigh ranked in the fifth spot, with the risk of loss at just 9% with the worst year on record a surprising 1981-1982. This was surprising to me, as I expected the 2008 housing bubble to be the worst year on record. It is evidence that real estate investing cycles just like every other investment. How quickly we have forgotten the 10% mortgage lending rates and the slow market back then. It is my opinion that the big difference between now and then was that there were no HELOC, home equity lines to get homeowners into an upside down situation. Back then, people put down 20% to purchase a home and they usually had a 15 or 20 year mortgage.
This is something we can all learn from. A stable market has many factors and homeowner behaviors could be a factor.
