Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Raleigh-Durham — what rents look like right now, what's driving the market, and what it means if you own a rental home.
Raleigh-Durham Rental Market Snapshot — May 2026
Here's where Raleigh-Durham rents stand as of May 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.
Raleigh-Durham's median rent sits at $1,735 in May 2026, up slightly from last month but still down about 2% from a year ago. Homes are leasing in 11 days on average, so demand is holding up even as rents haven't fully recovered from last year's softening.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types) | $1,735 | +0.7% MoM |
| Avg. Days on Market | 11 days | — |
| Rent Growth YoY | -2.0% | — |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, May 2026.
What's Driving Raleigh-Durham Rental Market Conditions Right Now
Raleigh-Durham Rental Supply and New Construction
New supply is finally cooling off. After completions peaked above 13,000 units in 2024 and stayed near 12,000 in 2025, the region is on track for roughly 6,000 completions in 2026, about half the prior year's volume. A handful of notable projects are still coming online, including Crescent Communities' 400-unit Novel UHill in Durham's University Hill neighborhood, Hoffman & Associates' 400-apartment Union West above Raleigh's downtown bus station, and The Spectrum Cos.' 267-unit Vara Trinity Park in Durham, but the overall pipeline has thinned considerably across most submarkets.
Why People Rent in Raleigh-Durham
The metro keeps pulling people in faster than it can house them. Raleigh's population hit 1,661,000 in 2025, up nearly 2% year-over-year, and household formation grew 3.4%, the second-highest rate among major U.S. metros. Buying isn't a realistic exit from renting for most newcomers: with the 30-year mortgage at 6.36% and 80% of existing homeowners locked into rates below 6%, the starter-home market stays frozen, which keeps renters renting. Job growth at 1.8% (more than double the national average), anchored by Education and Health Services adding 6,600 jobs, RTP employment corridors along I-40 and I-540, and the 36,000+ NC State students concentrated along Hillsborough Street and Centennial Campus all add up to persistent rental demand across the metro.
What This Means for Raleigh-Durham Landlords
Price your property now and get it leased before summer. The Triangle's peak leasing season runs spring through early summer, and that's when renter competition is highest and your negotiating leverage is strongest. With median rent sitting at $1,735 and down about 2% year-over-year, you're not going to force appreciation, but a well-priced unit in a strong submarket like Central Raleigh (95% occupancy), East Durham (95.7% occupancy), or Northwest Raleigh can still lease fast, and 11 average days on market confirms that good properties aren't sitting.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by City — May 2026
Garner and Durham lead the metro on leasing speed, averaging just 7 and 8 days on market respectively, signaling the strongest rental demand in the area right now. Wake Forest is the slowest market in the table at 17 days, while Apex sits at 14 days and is the only city showing rent softening month-over-month at -1.1%. Worth noting: Apex still commands the highest median rent in the metro at $1,928, so that slight pullback looks more like a high-priced market finding its ceiling than a market in distress. Still, six of the eight cities are leasing in under two weeks, which points to a metro-wide market that remains active heading into summer.
| City | Median Rent | 2BR Median | 3BR Median | Avg. DOM | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $1,758 | $2,151 | $2,086 | 9 days | +0.1% |
| Durham, NC | $1,655 | $1,769 | $2,222 | 8 days | +1.0% |
| Cary, NC | $1,583 | $1,593 | $1,958 | 10 days | +1.8% |
| Apex, NC | $1,928 | $1,935 | $2,150 | 14 days | -1.1% |
| Wake Forest, NC | $1,820 | $1,629 | $2,000 | 17 days | +1.1% |
| Holly Springs, NC | $1,687 | $1,645 | $1,995 | 11 days | +0.8% |
| Fuquay-Varina, NC | $1,830 | $1,662 | $1,905 | 13 days | +1.7% |
| Garner, NC | $1,620 | $1,562 | $1,890 | 7 days | +0.6% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all property types, May 2026. Median Rent is across all property types. |
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Raleigh, NC: Central Raleigh absorbed 3,169 units at 95% occupancy, with renter demand anchored by walkable neighborhoods like Downtown/Glenwood South and family-friendly corridors near North Hills. At $1,758 median rent and just 9 days on market, Raleigh is leasing fast and rents are holding steady, up 1.6% year-over-year with a roughly flat month-over-month gain of +0.1%.
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Durham, NC: Trinity Park renters prize the neighborhood's mature tree canopy, classic architecture, and walking distance to Duke University, while East Durham posted the highest submarket occupancy in the metro at 95.7%. Durham's $1,655 median rent rose 1.0% in May alone and is up 0.8% year-over-year, and homes are clearing in just 8 days, among the fastest leasing speeds in the triangle.
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Cary, NC: The South Cary/Apex submarket is recognized as a top performer driven by lifestyle amenities, but the city-level numbers tell a more nuanced story. Median rent sits at $1,583, down 8.0% year-over-year, though the +1.8% monthly gain suggests some stabilization is underway. At 10 days on market, demand remains solid, so owners should watch whether that monthly momentum continues before drawing conclusions about where rents bottom out.
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Apex, NC: Apex commands the highest median rent in this group at $1,928, but rents are off 8.2% year-over-year and slipped another 1.1% in May, the only city in the table to post a month-over-month decline. At 14 days on market, leasing pace has also slowed relative to the metro's fastest markets. Owners pricing to last year's comps are likely sitting longer than necessary.
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Wake Forest, NC: Wake Forest stands out as the clearest rent-growth story in the table right now. Median rent hit $1,820, up 3.6% year-over-year and another 1.1% in May, combining the strongest annual gain in the group with consistent monthly momentum. The tradeoff is leasing pace: at 17 days on market, homes take longer to fill here than anywhere else on this list, so pricing discipline still matters.
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Holly Springs, NC: Holly Springs is a mid-range market at $1,687 median rent, with a modest +0.8% monthly gain but a 2.2% year-over-year decline indicating rents have softened from their prior peaks. At 11 days on market, demand is healthy and leasing pace is close to the metro median, so the story here is stabilization rather than either recovery or continued slide.
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Fuquay-Varina, NC: Fuquay-Varina is one of the better-positioned cities in the table heading into summer. Median rent reached $1,830, up 1.7% in May and 1.0% year-over-year, with both short-term and long-term trajectories pointing in the same direction. At 13 days on market, homes are leasing at a reasonable clip, giving owners a market where rents and demand are moving together.
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Garner, NC: Garner is the fastest-leasing city in the table, with homes clearing in just 7 days on market, and at $1,620 median rent it remains one of the more affordable options in the triangle. The catch is a 4.4% year-over-year rent decline, which suggests that strong demand speed and softer rents can coexist when new supply or prior over-pricing reset the baseline. The +0.6% monthly gain is a small positive signal but not yet enough to call a clear recovery.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — May 2026
Rent by Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham
Three-bedroom rentals across Raleigh-Durham average $2,026 per month, making them the sweet spot most landlords are asking about. Rents across the metro range from $1,430 for one-bedrooms up to $2,530 for four-bedrooms, a $1,100 spread that reflects how sharply demand scales with space. The $504 jump from three- to four-bedroom units is the largest single step in the table, which tells you larger single-family homes command a real premium here and the market will pay for the extra square footage.
| Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent (May 2026) |
|---|---|
| Studio | $1,753 |
| 1-Bedroom | $1,430 |
| 2-Bedroom | $1,743 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,026 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,530 |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings across all property types, Raleigh-Durham, May 2026. |
Rent by Property Type in Raleigh-Durham
Single-family homes in Raleigh-Durham rent for $2,180 per month, a $445 premium (25.6%) above the metro's blended median of $1,735. That gap is the widest in the market; townhouses sit closer to the middle at $1,889, while condos and apartments both fall below the blended median. Speed tells a different story: apartments lease in just 5 days versus 22 days for single-family, so the premium comes with a longer runway to find a tenant. If you own a single-family rental, the data supports pricing confidently, but budget for roughly three weeks on market rather than a quick fill.
| Property Type in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent | Avg. Days on Market | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Property Types (Blended) | $1,735 | 11 days | +0.7% |
| Single Family | $2,180 | 22 days | -0.6% |
| Condo | $1,606 | 29 days | -2.8% |
| Townhouse | $1,889 | 26 days | -0.1% |
| Apartment | $1,582 | 5 days | +0.4% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, May 2026. |
Data Sources & Methodology
- Rental market data: Median rents, days on market, listing counts, and rent change figures. Sourced from county public records, deed and tax assessor data, and rental listings on publicly accessible platforms.
- Doorstead Platform Data: Internal leasing outcomes from Doorstead-managed single-family homes — days to lease, pricing tier benchmarks. Trailing 12 months.
Data refreshed monthly. Doorstead benchmarks reflect managed SFR properties only and may not be representative of the broader Raleigh rental market.