This article was written by Denise Sherman, a correspondent with the News & Observer. I noticed this article in the January 26th Issue and just had to post it.

Jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

Those close to economic and building indicators say that is the formula fueling a robust building environment in the Triangle. “We are continuing to grow,” says Adrienne Cole, executive director of the Raleigh Economic Division of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. “We have a diverse economy and a strong economy. The types of companies that we are attracting are creating good solid jobs. They are continuing to recruit people to this area to work in their companies. As long as they are able to create solid jobs for more folks, we’ll have a strong diverse economy and that will feed into the real estate market.”

Builders say that’s what they are seeing in terms of workload.

Mike Ruth of Homescape Building Company said lots of people are coming to him for custom homes. “Homescape Building Company has seen a surge in pre-sale activity in the past six months,” he says. “Our newest neighborhoods, Copperleaf and Amberly in Cary and 12 Oaks in Holly Springs have proved to be very desirable destinations and our ability to customize home plans for potential buyers has brought us a fair amount of new business.” Ruth said Copperleaf, alone, has ten pre-sales for homes between $650,000 and $1.3 million in the past three to four months and that each builder in the custom builder team there has several ready customers they are currently working with. “We are very fortunate to be in the Triangle with its steady diet of corporate, expansions and re-allocations, lured by the strong supply of qualified job applicants and our fine universities. Our region is viewed globally as a wonderful place for businesses to prosper and families to settle and grow.”

Cole says companies keep on coming and the new ones already located here are expanding. For instance, PRA International, a CRO, is moving its corporate headquarters from Reston, Virginia to Raleigh’s Glenlake, West of Crabtree Valley Mall, and is creating 500 jobs. Optimal Technologies, a power and electrical equipment optimizations company, is moving its headquarters from Canada to downtown Raleigh. It will expand by 325 jobs over the next three years. Companies already here like Mead/Westvaco that moved to the N.C. State Centennial Campus in 2006 has 120 employees and in continuing to grow. Staffing company Headway Corporation that relocated to downtown Raleigh from New York City employs 70 people. INC Research, a clinical development company in Raleigh, is adding 1,100 employees.

“And these are just Raleigh companies,” said Cole. “There are many others in Wake County.”

“Things are good,” says Dennis Rice of Rice Builders. “We are busy as we were at any time in 2007.” Rice who builds mainly in Cary and western Wake County, says many locals whose incomes have increased and want a new home are coming to him for custom work.

“Pre-sales are the mainstay of our business,” he said. “And we are seeing inventory houses move in the Amberly community. Schools in Wake County are a strong selling feature,” says Rice. “A strong local economy and a strong job market that is growing helps.”

Rice says sales are good in Amberly which is nestled against Chatham County, and five minutes from NC 55 and a 15-minute drive from there to Research Triangle Park, a big plus for the community.

Executive Director of Wake County Economic Development for the Greater Raleigh of Chamber of Commerce Ken Atkins says that ability to net jobs, job stability in the marketplace due to secure employment in large employers such as N.C. State University and state government, and the fact this market never had the boon of some places in the country kept it out of hot water with the national downturn in housing starts and real estate. As solid as the building market is now, it’s still not as good as it was several years ago.

“All signs point to a steady 2008,” says Homescape Builder’s Ruth, “not the record-setting pace of the previous couple of years, but steady. Our industry will rely on the stream of corporate relocations to provide an acceptable absorption pace. In fact, we’re beginning to feel the positive effects of Fidelity Investments move to Research Triangle Park…Additionally, downward pressure on interest rates will help all levels of housing.”

Seventy-five percent of Ruth’s business is from people relocating to the area, while 25 percent is from local move-up buyers. “I think when you compare our market to the rest of the country we are much better that in other places,” says Tim Minton, Executive President of the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County. “The national downturn is impacting our homes sales in that some people are not able to sell their homes where they are moving from.”

According to Minton, building permits in Wake County are down by 11 percent, but the climate for building is still good, he says. “We’re back at the level we were about two to three years ago, and we were at a pretty good level then,” he adds. Minton says for a period of time, buyers were sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what was going to happen with the housing market. But now, there is a rebound.

“It appears that buyers are now coming back and we’re starting to see a lot of pre-sales in new construction. “Now there is a greater confidence rate. Now’s a good time to buy a home. They keep lowering the interest rates and you get a good value here as compared to other markets.

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