Communities across the country may be singing the blues over a lagging housing market‚ but in Greenville the tune remains "Home‚ Sweet Home."
With a healthy‚ stable economy and the promise of more growth to come‚ the area is enjoying a flourishing residential real estate market that promises to stay just that way for the foreseeable future.
"I don't see this slowing down any time soon‚" says James Rhodes‚ Pitt County planner. "The whole setting of Pitt County is attractive. The hospital is a regional facility that serves 29 counties‚ and we're a regional shopping destination‚ which brings with it lots of service-related activities‚ from copy centers to fast food places. We're virtually the regional hub for eastern North Carolina."
Realtors agree that the nucleus created by East Carolina University‚ the Brody School of Medicine and Pitt County Memorial Hospital is a big draw for new residents‚ as will be a new dental college scheduled to open in 2011.
"We have a lot of retirees‚ people coming from up north and from Florida‚ and they want to come to a place with a wonderful medical center‚" says Sue Williams of the Greenville-Pitt Association of Realtors. "Add that to the fact that we're close to the beach and the mountains‚ and we're an attractive place to be."
Another reason‚ newcomers are migrating to Greenville is the top-notch public school system. J.H. Rose High School was included in Newsweek's listing of top schools in 2007.
In addition to an outstanding quality of life‚ housing in the Greenville-Pitt County area is affordable‚ says Realtor Connally Branch‚ owner of Clark-Branch Realtors.
"Our mean single-family home price is ... very affordable compared to many other places. Our lot costs may be beginning to catch up‚ but our infrastructure costs are not bad. And we have available land‚ so we can continue to grow in three directions."
While existing homes sales have maintained themselves well‚ new construction drives the market‚ with new residential building making up about 30 percent of the overall market.
Most of the building consists of small- to medium-size subdivisions on the southwestern side‚ and increasingly on the southeastern side‚ of Greenville. Branch's Langston Farms‚ one of the bigger communities‚ will include more than 300 homes when it is completed on Thomas Langston Road. The Bedford subdivision in town continues to expand. And Winterville‚ just two miles south of Greenville‚ is booming‚ as growth begins to move Greenville closer.
Rhodes points to a new trend in the development pattern of the past few years: a growing pocket of residential building north of the river next to East Carolina University property.
"The residential building boom here includes student housing‚" Rhodes says. "Unlike when I went to college‚ today when students come back to school‚ they expect to move into a new place‚ and Greenville apparently is providing that."
Branch estimates that about 30 percent of the annual sales in this market are multifamily condos and townhouses.
Branch‚ Wilson and Rhodes all agree that the future of the local residential real estate market is bright.
"I feel confident that things will hold steady‚" Williams says. "The new East Carolina Heart Institute will bring in 300 people on staff at the hospital‚ and the university will grow. I don't have a crystal ball‚ but I think we'll be okay."
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