Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina, especially if you are a home builder.
According to the latest data from Housing Intelligence, the Carolinas are the place to be. Of the 17 markets in the country which had 1,000 new home closings or more in the third quarter, 10 were in North and South Carolina.
Nationally, just 9.5% of all sales in the third quarter were new homes, down from 10.5% for the same period a year ago. But things are way different in much of the Southeast, and especially so in the Carolinas, according to HI, the independent research arm of the Hanley-Wood publishing group.
The greatest concentration of new home sales was in the military-dominated town of Fayetteville, N.C., were 32% — a third of all sales — were new homes. In the Raleigh-Gary area, 27% of all third quarter sales were new homes. And 23% of all sales in Columbia, S.C., also were new houses.
While the big Carolina markets are hot spots for builders, so are some other Southeastern markets, according to HI. In Augusta, Ga., 31% were new houses. And in Huntsville, Ala., 26% were new houses.
Texas isn't part of the Southeast region, but a couple of mid-major markets in the Lone Star State also are looking good for builders. In Killeen, for example, 24% of all sales were new units in the third quarter. And in El Paso, new houses accounted for 23% of all sales.
