Not in our lifetimes will North Carolina, whether controlled by Republicans or Democrats, pass a law outlawing single family zoning. It’s not going to happen, but I’m sure that one party wants you to believe it will happen here to bolster their political position.
What’s been interesting to watch in Raleigh and Wake County over the last several decades is the densification of our suburban developments. It used to be that single family lots were measured in acres or percentage of an acre; today lots are getting smaller and smaller and are more often being measured in square footage as small as a few thousand square feet.
Without any ban on single family zoning, we are already seeing larger lots being subdivided into two or more lots for more single family homes in mature neighborhoods across the county. I suspect that we’ll only see more of that in future, especially on deep, corner, half acre+ lots.
Outside the category of true luxury developments, and outside those that are in the watershed (usually both at the same time these days), we are going to see more and more subdivisions being built in the county that look more like suburban California than anything we used to see last Century. The homes won’t necessarily get smaller, but the lots are going to really tighten up.
Older, more modest neighborhoods built on large lots will continue to see homes upgraded, expanded or replaced with larger homes. This has been happening for years now and I don’t expect that to stop anytime soon as people desire these larger lots in more convenient areas of the city.