According to a Forbes article, “Raleigh, North Carolina has grown 2.2% since 2011 and 47.8% since 2000” and according to census data, the Raleigh metro area is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. since 2000. These statistics aren’t surprising to those that have lived there since the late 1990s, since they experienced the growth first-hand. As a commercial painting contractor, A&K Painting serves the entire Raleigh metro area.
Despite this amazing growth, Raleigh still has a relatively low population density in its urban core. The city has also retained its housing affordability, with housing costs that are half or less than in “cool”, slow-growth cities, such as Boston, San Francisco or New York. Raleigh also has the advantage of being located in the Sunbelt, so people are choosing to take advantage of the mild winters and extended summers. Also, the cities’ population will most likely continue to grow in the future, because its child population alone has expanded 45% since 2000, compared to 2% nationally, while cities such as New York and Los Angeles had a decline in their children population.
This could be an opportune time for CRE investors to take a hard look at Raleigh, since they are experiencing exponential growth which doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon; especially since the outlook for commercial real estate growth is on the upswing.