I can’t speak for Florida… However, for NC – I have the ‘qualification’ of having lived there for ~14 years before I came to California in the late 90’s.
From the perspective of the housing market, it’s not surprising that NC hasn’t caught up to Cal in terms of raw median price – it’s definitely a less expensive place to live. There’s plenty of usable, open land.
I was looking at a place right before I left. A 25yo 3/3/3 on five acres with a half-acre pond out back and woods in between. Ten minutes to downtown Raleigh, ten minutes to RTP, main road backs up to a state forest. $185K
When I got here, a funky little 1952 2/1 SFH on 2200sf across from my rental sold for $260K. I knew it’d been renovated, but was stunned by what someone would be willing to pay for that place. The sticker shock was pretty intense – and that for a place where people are packed frighteningly close to each other. Less than two years ago the same place sold for $890K to a young couple of financial analysts that re-renovated it.
I hear that stuff near the Park (RTP) has tripled since then, which syncs fairly well with my observations here.
Not that my data is in any way complete or representative – the experience was just so intense that I felt like sharing.
