Raleigh luxury homes in high demand, attracting out-of-town buyers

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The number of new homes keeps growing in the Triangle but to builders like Raleigh Custom Homes, there's demand, especially for luxury homes that's attracting out-of-town buyers to Raleigh.

"They can get a lot more for their dollar here in North Carolina than where they came from," Connie Allen said. "So this million dollar plus homes, that's why there's so many in the Parade of Homes and there's more on the market than we've ever seen."

Allen, who is the head of design and new construction at Raleigh Custom Homes, said trends such as multiple offices and outdoor living spaces are rising.

"So many people are working from home," Allen said. "We have a lot of buyers that are multigenerational families living together ... everybody wants their space."

At least three million dollars can get you more than 5,000 square feet in Raleigh and nearly seven million can get you double the amount of space.

"Obviously the costs of building have gone up for everybody," John Finan of Exeter Building Company, LLC said. "So the cost of land, the cost of all the trades on the houses have gone up ... prices of the homes have gone up. But when you're coming here from other markets, Raleigh still looks like an attractive place to buy a home."

More than 900 homes sold for over $1 million in the Triangle in 2023 to date, according to Finan.

"They're coming here and they sell from somewhere else and they're cash buyers," Finan said. "So they're not interest rate sensitive. Then you get the people who are relocating here for jobs."

Finan sees the demand for luxury homes to remain high so long as builders can keep up with new construction.

"There maybe aren't as many resale homes as there used to be in the marketplace because a lot of the people who have those homes are unwilling to give up their 2-2.5% percent interest rate or 3% interest rate," Finan said. "But people are coming here, there are still tons of good options."