Reggie Pyatte (left) and David Alexander (right) are part of a crew helping build a Habitat for Humanity house. Nonprofits like Habitat are trying to make inroads against the current housing shortage in Burke County.
Reggie Pyatte (left) and David Alexander (right) are part of a crew helping build a Habitat for Humanity house. Nonprofits like Habitat are trying to make inroads against the current housing shortage in Burke County.
In early March, the results of a comprehensive housing needs assessment commissioned by Burke County were presented at the board of commissioners’ annual retreat.
The results were sobering: The county is 5,000 housing units short of where it needs to be to meet expected demand.
The shortage and the factors driving it were the subject of a series of in-depth stories The Paper published in July, and the crisis is our seventh biggest news story of 2024.
It’s a problem that touches virtually every layer of economic strata — from government housing to the rental market to starter homes to upscale builds in exclusive neighborhoods.
There simply aren’t enough places for people to live in Burke County, and the available homes are far more expensive than they used to be.
The county isn’t alone — experts say most of the region faces the same dilemma — although that fact doesn’t make it any easier.
According to the study by Bowen National Research, home sales in Burke decreased 20% between 2021 and the time of the study. The biggest dropoff was in homes priced at $200,000 or less, with sales reduced by 80% in the same timeframe.
The median list price for houses in the county increased by a whopping 61% since 2018, rising from $179,450 to $289,000 at the time of the study. Meanwhile, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages in the state vaulted from 3% in 2021 to nearly 7% today.
Things have remained essentially the same since our stories were published.
According to the latest data from Altos Research, the top producer of market data for realtors, the median list price for a home in the county was $359,900 as of Dec. 16.
There were 103 homes on the market.
Burke County has northward of 170 active realtors.
The county and municipalities are doing what they can to encourage construction. Some offer monetary incentives. Others are expanding costly infrastructure like water and sewer to developable areas. They’re also revisiting zoning codes to jump-start development.
Their strategies have worked to a point, but the shortage promises to be an important story as 2025 begins.
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