North Hills and north Raleigh

North of I-440 is where most of Raleigh's growth has gone since the 1970s, annexed piece by piece as the subdivisions were built: the City's corporate limits record dates the Brier Creek annexation to 1985 and Wakefield's to 1995. North Hills began as a 1960s shopping mall and subdivision just outside the Beltline and has been rebuilt since as a district of offices, apartments and shops that is marketed as Midtown, while its original residential streets sit under a neighborhood conservation overlay adopted in 2018. 6 guides are listed below.

Two things decide a purchase up here more than the house does. One is the association: most subdivisions built this far out have one, with covenants on fences, sheds, exterior colors and rentals, and a fee that is modest next to what the covenants restrict. The other is the commute, because the jobs are largely elsewhere: the Research Triangle Park, Durham and the airport are all west, and the drive from Wakefield or Falls River to any of them runs on I-540. Brier Creek is the exception, a few minutes from the airport and closer to the park than to downtown Raleigh.