"It’s the nonresidential market. It’s the commercial and industrial construction market," says Dr. Walden, an economist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. "It is indeed booming.

"For example, commercial construction is growing right now at an annual rate of 20 percent. The industrial construction market is going up at a rate of 8 percent," he explains.

"Now why is this happening? Well, it is due to a robust industrial and commercial economy. There are low vacancies there," he concludes. "Factories have been expanding, and indeed this has helped to offset about 75 percent of the slowdown that we’ve seen in the residential market."