Asheville North Carolina Real Estate

NC mountain homes for sale represent a solid investment – through thick and thin.

Asheville Realtors, residents, and visitors have all witnessed the resilience of the town nicknamed “Land of Sky” and “The Paris of the South” during the recent USA housing market depression. While other markets implode, leaving neighborhoods boarded-up with foreclosures and scarred by urban blight, the Appalachian city of Asheville continues to hold its own.

Prices have pulled back from the inflated levels of 2005, of course, but most of that slowdown can be traced to real estate markets elsewhere. As one Asheville Realtor explained, “I have a legal pad full of names of clients who want to buy Asheville, North Carolina real estate. But they can’t buy yet because they have not been able to sell the homes they own in other states like California and Florida. As soon as sales pick up in other parts of the country, NC mountain homes for sale – especially in and around Asheville – will surge in value and the inventory will shrink, driving up demand and prices.” Realtors all over Asheville cite the same phenomenon.

The staying power of Asheville North Carolina real estate has often been credited to outside sources and influences, so that idea is nothing new to Asheville Realtors. Back in 2007, for example, the local housing market was put in the global spotlight by the renowned Frommer’s Travel Guide when it named Asheville one of its Top 10 Destinations – alongside world-class cities like Tokyo and Zurich. International buyers came out of the woodwork in the wake of that announcement. Around the same time that Frommer’s put Asheville in the news the greatest golfer in history, Tiger Woods, revealed that he was going to begin designing golf courses. He chose Asheville as the site of his first project.

Asheville Realtors and residents often explain the investment quality of WNC property by simply saying “Asheville, North Carolina real estate is like beach property. But it just happens to be in the mountains.”

The economy of Asheville, while diversified, thrives on tourism. That brand of tourism has been going strong ever since the late 1800s when George Vanderbilt came and built Biltmore House – America’s largest private home and one of the biggest tourist attractions in the nation. People have visited Asheville ever since to enjoy outdoor recreation, antique architecture, exciting night life – or to just relax in a gorgeous and pristine natural setting.

But what helps to preserve a strong market for mountain homes for sale in any cycle of the economy is this: Asheville, North Carolina real estate markets are fueled by the unusually high percentage of visitors and weekend tourists who are so enthralled with the beauty and the people of the area, they do not want to return home. They simply prefer to stay here, checking out NC mountain homes for sale, and buying property, year in and year out, regardless of how other housing markets may behave as the economy rides a sometimes frightening roller coaster. That makes Asheville real estate a reliable investment that is truly a golden nest egg.