The staff economist for the National Home Builders Association, Michael Carliner, says that the Triangle (Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Johnston, Orange and Wake Counties of North Carolina) is "perhaps the healthiest market in the United States."  Area job growth is exceeding the national average.  New people means more buyers and it certainly doesn't hurt the demand for apartments either.  In October, on a year to year basis, jobs increased nationally 1.5%, the Durham area increased 2.2% and the Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area increased 4.4%. 

As reported here before, the Triangle housing market has not been immune to the hit the national market has taken.  For the most part our problems have been that of people moving here are having problems selling their homes in the markets they are coming from.  Thus the inventory of new homes locally has increased as has the inventory of resale homes because of this problem.  However, both the volume builders and the smaller local builders have been cutting back on the building of new homes which should increase the demand for resale homes and cut down on the new home inventory as well.  Currently, closings and new home starts are nearly equal which indicates a market in balance.  So what's in store for 2007?  In the Triangle it would appear that a housing market in basic balance may be the story and if that's not all good neither is it all bad.