Clayton and greater Johnston County is growing and there are many great reasons why! That topic was covered in detail in a previous post. In this post we dig into who is moving here and where people are moving from. There are a number of tools we can use to get to the bottom of these questions.
Cross Market Data Provided by Realtor.com
Using the above Cross-Market Demand data from Realtor.com for the Raleigh-Cary, NC area you can quickly see which metros are searching for homes for sale in the Triangle. It’s a common phenomenon for “website traffic” to be the precursor for “foot traffic”.
You might be asking why use the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro data first to determine the answers to our questions. Often times home buyers will search for homes for sale in Raleigh or Cary first and then quickly come to the realization they prefer the affordability and often times, the elbow room that Johnston County real estate offers.
NE to NC
The data clearly points to what we’ve known all along. People in the Northeast, (NY, NJ, PA, MA, & other NE locations), are moving to JoCo in droves! Many are older buyers chasing their adult children and grandchildren. Beyond relocating because of family, and friends, many are moving to avoid the snow, and the cold weather along with the desire to avoid high taxes.
Coming from the Mid Atlantic and Intra-State
By looking at where our website traffic is coming from we can see a correlation between our analytics and the Cross-Market Demand dataset too. Here are the states where we see our website traffic originate in descending order.
- North Carolina (Raleigh, Charlotte & Fayetteville)
- Georgia
- New York
- Virginia
- Ohio
- Florida
- Michigan
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Indiana
First Time & Move Up Buyers are Coming to Johnston County Too!
According to Ted Abernathy with the Shallotte-based organization, Economic Leadership, “North Carolina’s population is projected to grow around 21% by 2042; Johnston may grow by 42%. That would add some 90,000 more folks to today’s 220,000-plus Johnston population“. All of these people will need shelter. A place to call home. And we all know jobs and shelter go hand-in-hand. With the goal of local leaders (like Chris Johnson) to have our residents not drive to work in Raleigh, more Johnston County economic engines are striving to bring more businesses AKA jobs to Johnston County. That way residents have the opportunity to live, work and play here.
What does this mean for Johnston County Home Buyers and Sellers
For the near term, homes in our Johnston County real estate market are expected to appreciate at the typical 4-6% per year rate. For a typical home in Johnston County priced at $350,000 that’s an additional $21,000 in equity earned for 2023. That means buyers who need to buy should consider doing so sooner and not try to “time the market” nor wait for prices to bottom out. We may have already seen home prices reach bottom. Time will tell. Plus, with so many people moving to Johnston County, we could be in an inventory deficit for years!
Depending on who you talk to, interest rates could go up or they could come down. Judging from our current economy, interest rate volatility is here to stay, especially given the current geopolitical atmosphere. Either way, the rates are what the rates are. Although said too often, “date the interest rate, and marry the home” is still a smart move. Buy the home and then refinance your loan when rates come down.
If you look back over time, today’s interest rates are below historical annual averages. (see chart below)
For the rest of this year, Johnston County home sellers should enjoy higher home values and sustained equity growth. With interest rates trending lower over the course of the first couple of months of 2023, listing your home for sale sooner rather later probably makes good sense, especially if you need to sell. As we approach spring, you can count on more homes hitting the market which means more competition for your home.
Thinking about selling or just curious to know how much equity you have in your home? You can start here to learn more!
Let’s Chat!
If you would like to start a conversation about buying, selling or investing in Johnston County real estate, we would love to be your trusted resource of choice! Simply leave a comment or send us a text to (919) 813-0123.