Raleigh, Charlotte make Forbes list for best housing bargains

02/21/2008 by Pamela St. Peter

Raleigh and Charlotte NC were chosen in a recent Forbes top 10 list. The list ranked the nation’s best cities for bargain hunters. The best place to get a bargain on a home is an area where there is healthy job growth and more houses available than people to buy them. The magazine went looking for markets where the damage from risky lending hasn’t been as dramatic as in some parts of the country and where employment growth can burn off an over-abundance of inventory quickly.

Raleigh was the second-ranked city, while Charlotte earned the fourth spot. The magazine says building in Raleigh got ahead of the curve but attributes its quickly expanding economy to its placement on the list. Charlotte’s ever-growing financial industry looks to take advantage of the significant unsold housing inventory there, according to the magazine.

Other cities on the list included Salt Lake City (1); Orlando (3); Phoenix (5); Seattle (6); Las Vegas (7); Jacksonville (8); Richmond (9); and Houston (10).