Highlands appreciation rates and housing market information

Highlands housing market information

With a population of 901, 1,674 total housing units (homes and apartments), and a median house value of $405,403, Highlands house prices are not only among the most expensive in North Carolina, Highlands real estate also is some of the most expensive in all of America.

single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Highlands, accounting for 82.26% of the town's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Highlands include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments (7.94%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments, or other small apartment buildings (7.59%), row houses and other attached homes (1.49%), and a few mobile homes or trailers (0.72%).

Owner-occupied, three and four bedroom single-family detached homes are the most prevalent type of housing you will see in Highlands. Owner-occupied housing accounts for 20.25% of Highlands's homes, and 53.05% have either three or four bedrooms, which is average sized relative to America.

There is a lot of housing in Highlands built from 1970-1994, so parts of town may have that "Brady Bunch" look of homes popular in the '70s and early '80s, although some of these houses were built up through the early '90s as well. There is also a lot of housing in Highlands built from 1940-1969 (21.80%). A lesser amount of the housing stock also hails from 1995 and later (16.07%), and some were built from 1939 and earlier (16.07%).

A decent proportion of the Highlands housing stock is seasonally occupied. That is, homes and condos in Highlands are occupied by people for a portion of the year - mainly for vacation purposes - and then locked up and left unoccupied for the remainder of the year as owners return to their primary residences. This characteristic of the Highlands housing market speaks to its popularity as a vacation location of choice.

Highlands home appreciation rates

In the last 10 years, Highlands has experienced some of the highest home appreciation rates of any community in the nation. Highlands real estate appreciated 151.20% over the last ten years, which is an average annual home appreciation rate of 15.12%, putting Highlands in the top 10% nationally for real estate appreciation. If you are a home buyer or real estate investor, Highlands definitely has a track record of being one of the best long term real estate investments in America through the last ten years.

Appreciation rates are so strong in Highlands that despite a nationwide downturn in the housing market, Highlands real estate has continued to appreciate in value faster than most communities. Looking at just the latest twelve months, Highlands appreciation rates continue to be some of the highest in America, at 9.41%, which is higher than appreciation rates in 99% of the cities and towns in the nation. Based on the last twelve months, short-term real estate investors have found good fortune in Highlands. Highlands appreciation rates in the latest quarter were at 2.22%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of 8.88%.

Importantly, this makes Highlands one of the highest appreciating communities in the nation for the latest quarter, and may signal the town's near-future real estate investment strength.

Relative to North Carolina, our data show that Highlands's latest annual appreciation rate is higher than 98% of the other cities and towns in North Carolina.