Something surprising is happening east of Raleigh.
Luxury home sales nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025. Up until 2020, there were only one or two luxury sales per year. In 2025, there were 35.
This isn’t typically where luxury home buyers think to look, but a massive economic shift is creating a luxury boom on the east side.
In today’s video, we’ll explain why the luxury market east of Raleigh is growing, the big difference between upscale homes on the east side versus the west—because they are very different—and we’ll show you some of the most interesting luxury communities popping up in the eastern suburbs.
The Growing Luxury Market East of Raleigh
My son in law, who lives in Zebulon, was walking through one of the communities we’re going to talk about today, admiring a lake front build in progress. He looked up the price and was shocked to discover a 1.7 million dollar price tag. It was pure coincidence that I was just finishing up the script for this video. But his question to me was, is this a viable market in this area? Who is going to buy homes this expensive on the east side. And it’s a great question because in Zebulon, the median household income is just over $50,000, about half what it is in many other parts of Wake County.
Is anyone really going to buy these homes?
In my opinion, the answer to that question is absolutely. There’s some solid economic data out there that tells me the luxury market east of Raleigh is likely here to stay. The life sciences industry alone is bringing a large number of high-income jobs into this part of the Triangle. Novo Nordisk already employs about 2,500 people at its Clayton campus and is adding roughly another 1,000 positions as it expands manufacturing. At facilities like this, hundreds of those roles are engineers, scientists, and senior leadership earning well into six figures. If roughly 20–25% of those employees are engineers or specialists earning about $90k to $140k, and another 10–15% are in management making $120k to $250k, that suggests somewhere in the range of 750 to 1,000 people at that one campus earning six figures.
But Novo isn’t the only driver. Grifols has a major biopharmaceutical campus in Clayton with somewhere between 1200-1600 employees of its own, many in technical and management roles. Just to the west in Holly Springs, both Amgen and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies have announced major expansions bringing hundreds of additional engineering, scientific, and leadership jobs to the area. Given the new 540 Highway expansion, Holly Springs is just a 30 minute drive from Clayton. As Holly Springs starts running out of land, that employment pool will naturally start looking toward Clayton for larger lots and new construction you simply can’t get in Holly Springs anymore. And this is only the beginning. I think there is good reason to believe that this subset of jobs will continue to grow in this area. More on that later.
But even right now, when you add all the currently existing high paying employers together, the corridor from Clayton through Holly Springs likely supports well over a thousand six-figure life science jobs, many in dual-income households. That’s the kind of income base that doesn’t just support higher-end housing — it practically demands it.
If it were the same type of luxury housing available on the east as it is in the west, it might not be that enticing. But the truth is, what they are building on the east side is totally different from what you can get in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs and Fuquay. Let’s look at the homes.
Comparison
First, let’s define some terms. “Luxury” often means the top 10% of a given market. But since we’re dealing with two different markets, east compared to west, we’re just going to make the executive decision to make $900k the entry point into luxury for the purposes of this video. On the east side, this is the true entry point for luxury. On the west, it’s a bit higher. But a specific entry price point lets us compare apples to apples for specific budgets.
The Houses
Let’s start with the houses themselves before we talk about amenities and lot sizes. The median home age for luxury homes on the east side is 5 years. In Cary, it’s about 25 years. And new construction is almost unheard of in Cary at this point unless it’s an infill build. Last year, only 1 new construction home sold in Cary out of 249 total homes over $900k. Of the 49 homes over $900k currently listed on the eastern side, 19 are new construction.
With newer construction comes more modern finishes and better overall condition. I had some clients this year who were amazed that for just under a million dollars the home we were looking at in Apex had fiberglass shower inserts in the secondary bathrooms, had broken hardiplank boards, desperately needed an exterior paint job, and all the HVAC systems were nearing the end of their expected life.
And this is what you need to understand about the older homes in Western Wake County. When they were built as upscale homes, they were finished to the standard of the time, and builders have for the most part elevated the standards for luxury builds.
Lot Size
How much land do you need for a luxury home? Land in Cary is at a premium, so even a luxury home in Cary is likely to sit on ⅓ of an acre. Right now there are only 3 houses listed over 900k in Cary with at least an acre of land. Two of those three are listed over $3 million. In the last year, 9 homes in Cary sold with at least an acre. The median age of those homes? 1986. . .when they start giving you the senior discount at the grocery store without even asking you, 1986 seems like yesterday. It wasn’t. Those homes are 40 years old.
Now let’s look at what is on offer on the east side of Raleigh. There are currently 49 homes over $900k listed for sale. 31 of those homes have over an acre. 15 homes with over 2 acres. 10 with more than five acres. And seven have more than 10 acres. If luxury means privacy to you, the homes on the east side offer much more potential. There are homes on the east side with smaller lots in manicured neighborhoods, so if you don’t want to manage a large lot, don’t worry, there are options.
Also, with larger lots, pools, ADU’s, detached garages, and shelters for boats, RV’s, and horse trailers all become more possible and more common. That isn’t to say that pools aren’t common in Cary, but you’re often giving up having a yard to throw a football if you want the pool.
Let me jump in and say that many of our buyers come to us saying they do not want an HOA. And I completely get that. Unfortunately, those lots are hard to come by. 92% of Cary luxury homes were within an HOA neighborhood. But only 61% of homes on the east side were in an HOA. So it’s still common on the east side, but more possible to find a non HOA home.
Different Amenities
The amenities these luxury properties offer are also very different. In Western Wake County towns you have easy access to the many traditional amenities that have built up over the years. More parks. More shopping. More restaurants. If these are the most important aspects of your property search, then you’re likely going to be drawn to towns like Cary and Apex.
But what if you want horses? What if you want to kayak from your backyard, or keep some goats and chickens, grow a huge vegetable garden, or if you just want enough privacy to walk around in your backyard in your underwear because you don’t have neighbors who can see you?
If these rank higher in your priority list then the locations east of Raleigh have something for you that is very difficult to find elsewhere.
Eastern Homes and Communities
Yeah, One thing that’s really unique about homes in the eastern suburbs is the water access. The Neuse River runs through Clayton and the lesser known Little River runs through parts of Wendell and Zebulon. There are quite a few neighborhoods that are designed to capitalize on the proximity to the Neuse River. For example, this home that is currently on the market in Clayton sits on almost 2 acres with Neuse River frontage. The home itself is more basic but the luxury of hopping into your kayak and paddling to the coast is quite unique. All for under $900,000.
Another great example of water front amenities is 134 Lake Point Drive. This home with a pool, lakefront view and almost 5000 square feet is very difficult to find at these kinds of price points in the western Triangle.
134 Lake Point Drive – waterfront with pool on 3.5 acres for 1.4 million
147 Michael Way, Clayton – pool, Neuse river front. Kayak in 1.75 acres for 900k
Community Highlights
Luxury on the east side of Raleigh isn’t confined to just estate type homes. I want to share 2 beautiful lifestyle focused communities on the east side where I frequently see interesting homes come up for sale. The first is a brand new one called Cattail.
Cattail
Cattail is a master-planned lake community in Zebulon centered around an 80+ acre lake, with over two miles of shoreline and a mix of waterfront and wooded homesites. Cattail lake is about the size of Lake Lochmere in Cary and I think this community has a lot of similarities to the popular Lochmere community… but also some important differences.
What makes Cattail different is the size of the lots and the setting. Homesites range from about half an acre up to more than three acres, which is something you just don’t see in most luxury communities on the west side. The developer purposefully chose quality over quantity… the land could have supported 500 homes but they chose to limit it to just 296 homesites. 50 of those lots will be lake front lots.
The lifestyle here is very outdoor-focused—think private docks, fishing, kayaking, and just having that kind of space and privacy around you. But at the same time, it’s still a structured, master-planned community with amenities like a pool, clubhouse, and gathering spaces.
Portofino
Another upscale community on the east side is Portofino in Clayton. Portofino is not just ‘a neighborhood with horses.’ It’s an Italian-inspired, gated community designed around the outdoors, with an onsite equestrian center and more than seven miles of trails woven through the property, connecting to the Neuse River Greenway. If you want ‘country club amenities’ without the country club vibe—pools, trails, and that equestrian option—Portofino is one of the clearest examples of east-side luxury having its own identity.
Conclusion
On the west side, about 26% of listings are over $900,000. But on the east side only 4.5% of listings are in this price point. So this is an emerging market, but I think what happened in Holly Springs is a great indicator of what is happening to Clayton and the surrounding towns. I did a full video about the growth of Holly Springs and how the key decisions by the town made it into what it is today, and you can watch that video here. But I am seeing the very same pattern happening today in Clayton that happened 20 years ago in Holly Springs. In short, the pattern is: upgrade the infrastructure, attract high paying employers and develop a town plan with the amenities and resources that wealthier families enjoy. This gives the companies a vision for their recruiting before the development is completed. Once it becomes easy to attract new higher income employees to an area because the lifestyle and amenities match what those families expect to find, that is when companies like this start expanding and the whole economy starts to snowball. And that’s how a rural town turns into an economic powerhouse. And I think that’s exactly what we’re starting to see on the east side.
