Anyone who’s been following economic development in the US lately knows that the state of North Carolina has been golden in that regard.
The Tar Heel state has been picked by some important site-location magazines and websites as the number one place to start a new business or expand an existing one.
And skyrocketing property prices across the state point to the attractiveness of owning homes and other property in North Carolina.
A new study of Google searches reveals the states where property investment is proving most popular – and North Carolina finished in the Top Ten, number eight on the list to be exact.
The study, conducted by Malibu Real Estate using Journo Research, analyzed Google search data that compared the monthly traffic of popular real estate investment-related terms across all 50 states. The search volume was then weighted according to the state’s population to determine the searches per 100,000 residents to reveal the state where there was the most interest in property investment.
Wisconsin topped the list for real estate investment-related searches. There were 460 per 100,000 citizens. Georgia came in second with 428 property investment searches per 100,000 residents. Rounding out the top five were Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.
North Carolina ranked eighth – with 390 property investment searches per 100,000 residents.
The results, with North Carolina coming in so high on the property interest totem pole, aren’t surprising given what’s been going on with real estate in Guilford County and in other parts of the state. Two years ago, it was almost impossible to purchase a home in a normal manner in Guilford County of in some other parts of the state. As soon as a house went on the market there would be several cash offers by the end of the day.
The Guilford County Tax Department has acknowledged the big demand and pointed out that a lot of it is coming from out of state.
Corporate buyers have also been buying up residential property in Guilford County and across the state to use as rental property.
The price hikes in real estate in Guilford County continue to be so dramatic that the Tax Department is now being forced to hold a new revaluation in 2026, a year sooner than planned. The state requires that the county revalue all property in Guilford County even though the Department just completed a revaluation in 2022. About 20 other counties in North Carolina are under the same mandate for the same reason: housing prices skyrocketing so much that appraisers can’t keep up.
A lot of the places that did well in the study, including Wisconsin and North Carolina, are places where new housing is considered to be badly needed due to an influx of jobs and new residents.
If there is a high demand for residential property, they will be built. A boom/bust, or commodity, cycle.
Guilford county treating us so good I’ve seen young couples on the east side make 2x on some of their properties good times in the city good times
“Corporate buyers have also been buying up residential property in Guilford County and across the state to use as rental property.”
This is leading to artificially higher prices for residential and rental property which is increasing the cost of living for everyone. Especially in Guilford County, we’ve been hit hard because our Commissioners and City Council didn’t take steps to keep the tax rate neutral when re-evaluation increased the taxes on our homes during a time of inflation. While many have been forced out of their rental properties so landlords can update and upsell their spaces, or have seen rental costs go up 25-50% these corporations are often buying multiple homes in a neighborhood to lease or rent while locals aren’t able to afford housing in their own hometown anymore. This will not benefit Greensboro or Guilford County young people in any way.