It seems to be a national trend.

So, $1.6B (Billion) in New Residential Construction permits for 2016 in Wake county. 2) I drew a line from 2001 to 2016 (16 years) that, to me, appeared to be a 'normalized' long term trend line IF I compensated for the builder bubble years.

I recently listened to podcast #125 with Kathy Fettke,  and she alluded to this trend, likely to occur over the next 6 months. 

Current rates are well below historical trends.  

There is a huge trend right now to buy 2 and 3 flats and convert them to single families - we are on our 5th project like this right now.

This trend will not be reversed until our city is able to come together to create strong, purposeful changes to Austin’s zoning maps that paves the way for housing at all price ranges to exist.”Check out this report from Austin's KXAN News.

Raleigh's market, demographics, trends, and such are pretty straight forward.

Quick follow up on market trends...  

I know from living in multiple states, and seeing the laws change every few years, that trends dictate what type of property is worth going after.  

I do believe that the overall market out there is on an upward trend though, and the popularity of vacation rentals is ever increasing out there.