In a Yearlong Housing Downslide, Charlotte Keeps Getting Better
Housing markets across the U.S. are down, but Charlotte, N.C., is an exception.
June 12, 2007 — -- Charlotte, N.C., real estate broker and land developer Carl Fochler has watched this southern city change from a place with sleepy country roads to a bustling, sprawling city.
"We salivate every time someone comes from New York, New Jersey or Philadelphia because we know what their tax rates are. They are just astonished at how robust our economy is and by what they can get for their money."
In spite of the grim predictions for real estate across the country, Fochler isn't the least bit worried.
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Twenty miles outside of the city center there was nothing, Fochler explained. "Ten years ago this was a one horse town…It was all woods."
Could the pundits who've been saying that all real estate is local be right? Charlotte seems to be making a strong case.
While most of the nation is experiencing a downturn, home prices in Charlotte are climbing. The median price of a home has gone up nearly 6.5 percent in the last year according to the National Association of Realtors, while the national median price was down by nearly 2 percent.
And brokers like Fochler are profiting handsomely, converting acres and acres of old farmland into new housing developments.
"I jokingly said that I've made more farmer's millionaires than, what's that guy with the balloon? Ed McMahon," Fochler joked. "I've been in the right place at the right time. I would like to say it's a magic formula but it's just being in Charlotte in the right area at the right time."
So how did Charlotte avoid the fate of so many other parts of the country where the bubble has burst and home prices have plummeted?
One theory is while so many other markets like Miami, New York and Las Vegas were booming and bubbling, Charlotte was making a slow, deliberate climb. "They had a spike and then big letdown," said Fochler. "Here we have the banking and we have the job labor force."
Charlotte is one of a handful of cities experiencing steady and strong growth, bucking the national trend. Others include Portland, Boise, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Houston, Austin and Raleigh.
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