Bargain basements.

• Position: TRIAD REGION - Statistical data

Homeowners in Guilford County have more reason to be smiling these days. The median price of homes sold in the Greensboro-High Point area increased 14% between February 2014 and February 2015, the seventh-best gain among the nation's metro areas with more than 500,000 people, according to Irvine, Calif.-based Realty Trac. The median price stayed flat during the previous year, a period when many areas reported double-digit gains. Greensboro home prices bottomed out in February 2012. But they remain about 19% below the peak in July 2006, while sales prices in Charlotte and Raleigh average about 7% to 8% less than previous records, says Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president. Home-price changes stem from economic trends, housing supply and, in recent years, demand for single-family homes from investors who pay cash and then rent the properties, he says. The latter trend is particularly noticeable in North Carolina, where institutional investors made up 8.6% of total sales during the last quarter of 2014, more than every state except Georgia, according to RealtyTrac. Even if they buy less than 10% of the homes for sale, they help inflate...