Source: stock.adobe.com (Editorial Use License) This blog post is part of a regular series on recent trends in private real estate financing. These posts are meant to inform local governments about current conditions facing private developers and real estate development projects in their communities. Lending for real estate development projects Towards the end of 2023, some market watchers were cautiously optimistic that the Federal Reserve would begin to cut interest rates in 2024. However, stronger than expected inflation data has shifted those expectations over the past few months. In Jan ..read more

Four years after the pandemic began in March 2020, much of daily life has returned to normal; mask mandates have been lifted, people gather in large numbers for concerts and conferences, and the unemployment rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Yet, one legacy of COVID-19 – the shift towards remote work – remains a significant feature of the U.S. economy. This blog post will explore the current state of remote work and its impact on the real estate market. Work-from-home trends have stabilized since 2022. Data from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA), which polls betwe ..read more

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. Items of interest related to CED in North Carolina: N.C. Department of Commerce announces new grants to improve publicly-owned buildings and facilities in rural downtowns. https://bit.ly/49Doy9P  Wondering what average rents are in your county? What percentage of people need health insurance? How employment has changed over th ..read more

Housing Choice Vouchers are a critical source of funding for North Carolina’s lowest income renters to access affordable housing. As of 2023, about 72,000 North Carolina renters use vouchers to subsidize the cost of rent and utilities. Of those renters, 73% are extremely low-income, earning less than 30% of the local area median income.[1] The program works by requiring voucher holders to pay a third of their income, while HUD covers the remaining portion of the housing costs. Landlords can choose to accept vouchers, which includes regular inspections to ensure the quality of the units and ot ..read more

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. DFI in the news: Report on upcoming Transylvania housing summit cites UNC DFI research in Brevard. https://bit.ly/49JKIXD The DFI team recently presented the results of a countywide affordable housing needs assessment to Jackson County Commissioners, highlighting the limited supply of attainable workforce housing in the area: https://b ..read more

Source: stock.adobe.com (Editorial Use License) This blog post is part of a regular series that reports recent trends in private real estate financing. These posts are meant to inform local governments about current conditions facing private developers and development projects in their communities. Lending for real estate development projects Last quarter’s post discussed how rising interest rates affected private developers’ ability to cover debt payments, thereby affecting the financial feasibility of many real estate projects. Real estate market watchers shared cautious optimism that the ..read more

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. Items of interest related to CED in North Carolina: NC Housing Finance Agency blogs about latest data on housing cost burden in North Carolina. Renters face highest burdens. https://bit.ly/3vubeW4 RTI analyzed 39 proposals submitted by coalitions of universities, local governments, COGs, and private companies from across NC and des ..read more

What is the NC Tier system? Almost 40 years ago, the North Carolina Commission on Jobs and Economic Growth formally identified a pattern in the state’s economic growth.  There were clearly haves and have-nots — a divide between prospering urban areas and economically stagnating rural areas. Analysts referred to it as a “two-tiered economic system.”  In response, in 1986, the N.C. General Assembly developed a tax incentive program to promote economic development, with access to the incentives based on a county’s place (designation) in an ordered list reflecting the relative economic d ..read more

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. Items of interest related to CED in North Carolina: NY Times article on the tensions between growth and hurricanes in the Coastal Carolinas: for every home bought out in NC between 1996-2017, more than 10 new ones were built in the state’s floodplains. https://bit.ly/49L7ajR NC’s Industrial Megasite Readiness Program releases initi ..read more

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. Items of interest related to CED in North Carolina: Property owners in Eastern NC face huge jumps in premiums or total loss of coverage as insurers update their models to better reflect the severity of hazards in recent years. How will this impact a region still in recovery? https://bit.ly/48ASi70 Nationwide Insurance drops over 10 ..read more