WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — It was a booming year for the biggest county in our state. Wake County ended fiscal year 2022 with more money than it expected.

Wake County’s annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 2022 shows an almost 20% increase in sales tax and a 35% increase on real estate transfer taxes.

With some county departments coming in under budget, the county increased the general fund’s balance by $81 million, with the total fund balance reaching more than half a billion dollars by the end of fiscal year 2022.

Chief Financial Officer of Wake County Pat Flanary says the extra money will help complete capital improvement projects throughout the county despite increasing costs from inflation.

“We have projects that are already underway or out to bid, and the costs are getting higher and higher than we’ve planned,” Flanary said. “That’s really where the crux of that money is going right now.”

Area real estate agents are happy to hear that. Emily Jo Roberts, a real estate agent with Inhabit Real Estate in Durham, says it’s important to fund those projects as more people continue to move here.

“The Triangle as a whole is a really strong real estate market in general,” Roberts said. “We have three major universities, three major hospitals, the Research Triangle Park. We have other businesses and industry parks going up and we are constantly having people move here.”

With that influx of people, Roberts says she would like to see Wake and its surrounding counties continue to invest in certain things, including high-level education at schools, job opportunities and traffic improvements.

“I think that is going to be a major part because we are getting all of these people ... how are they going to go where they need to go?” she said when talking about traffic.

Roberts says with those investments, she won’t be surprised if Raleigh climbs into the top 10 housing markets in 2023, as predicted by the National Association of Realtors.

And while she thinks this year will be good for the real estate market, she does not expect it to be as crazy as last year.

“I am really excited for my buyers for this market coming up,” Roberts said. “I don’t think we are going to see this steep increase of price that we saw, (when) one house would sell for $450,000 and the next one had to go $100,000 over. So, we are talking that steep incline of price (where) our buyers really struggled in that market.”