Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Raleigh-Durham. This is our June 2026 report, covering May 2026 rental data: what rents looked like last month, 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 median rent sits at $1,729 in May 2026, down 2.33% year-over-year but essentially flat month-over-month (+0.24%), and homes are leasing in just 11 days. With peak leasing season underway and job growth running at 1.8% — more than double the national rate, landlords who price right now are seeing fast absorption without needing to discount further.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types, Raleigh-Durham) | $1,729 | +0.2% MoM |
| Avg. Days on Market | 11 days | — |
| Rent Growth YoY | -2.3% | — |
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 rental supply is shrinking fast. After more than 13,000 units landed in 2024 and roughly 12,000 in 2025, only about 6,000 are slated for delivery in 2026, a drop of more than 60%, with construction activity at its lowest since early 2021. A handful of notable projects are still coming (Novel UHill's 400 units in Durham's University Hill, Union West's 400 apartments above Raleigh's downtown bus station, and Geerhouse's 220 units near Durham Central Park), but the pipeline thins sharply after that, which means the supply pressure landlords felt over the past two years is fading.
Why People Rent in Raleigh-Durham
Raleigh-Durham keeps pulling in renters because the jobs keep coming. The metro added jobs at 1.8%, more than double the national rate, led by Education and Health Services adding 6,600 positions, with RTP employment corridors along I-40 and I-540 driving steady demand in places like Brier Creek (10 minutes to Research Triangle Park) and the NC State corridors around Hillsborough Street and Centennial Campus. Apple's $1 billion campus (3,000 high-paying jobs) and a new children's hospital in Apex (8,000 jobs projected) add to that pipeline, while a 6.53% mortgage rate and 80% of existing homeowners locked into rates below 6% keep the starter-home market frozen, leaving most newcomers as renters.
What This Means for Raleigh-Durham Landlords
Price aggressively right now. The Triangle's peak leasing season runs spring through early summer, and this is your strongest window for negotiating leverage before rents follow their established pattern of softening in the second half. With days on market running just 11 days and the supply wave from 2024–2025 receding, a well-priced listing in a tight submarket like East Durham (95.7% occupancy, 8-day average) or Central Raleigh (95% occupancy) should lease quickly. Don't leave money on the table by pricing too cautiously during the season that favors you most.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by City — May 2026
Garner and Durham are the fastest-leasing cities in the metro right now, averaging just 7 and 8 days on market respectively, with Cary and Raleigh close behind at 9 days. Wake Forest is the softest market in the table at 16 days, and its rent is also creeping up (+0.8% month-over-month), with Apex just behind at 14 days. Six of the eight cities are leasing in under two weeks, pointing to a tight, competitive market heading into peak leasing season, with Wake Forest and Apex as the clear outliers.
| City | Median Rent | 2BR Median | 3BR Median | Avg. DOM | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $1,727 | $2,064 | $2,373 | 9 days | +0.0% |
| Durham, NC | $1,677 | $1,801 | $2,308 | 8 days | +0.2% |
| Cary, NC | $1,603 | $1,627 | $1,994 | 9 days | +0.0% |
| Apex, NC | $1,895 | $1,889 | $2,195 | 14 days | +0.0% |
| Wake Forest, NC | $1,819 | $1,609 | $2,000 | 16 days | +0.8% |
| Holly Springs, NC | $1,685 | $1,662 | $1,975 | 12 days | +0.7% |
| Fuquay-Varina, NC | $1,825 | $1,669 | $1,950 | 13 days | +0.0% |
| Garner, NC | $1,603 | $1,588 | $1,875 | 7 days | +0.2% |
| 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's walkable corridors, NC State's 36,000+ students, and the North Hills midtown district drive steady renter demand across the city. At $1,727 median rent and 9 days DOM, Raleigh is leasing quickly with rents roughly flat month-over-month but up 3.2% from last May, one of the stronger year-over-year gains in the metro.
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Durham, NC: Trinity Park renters value walkability to Duke University, and East Durham posted the metro's highest submarket occupancy at 95.7%, both pointing to tight conditions throughout the city. Durham's 8-day DOM is the fastest in this group, and the 3.2% year-over-year rent gain matches Raleigh's, making it one of the two cities in the metro where rents are clearly trending upward.
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Cary, NC: At $1,603 median rent and 9 days DOM, Cary is still leasing at a healthy pace, but the 6.7% year-over-year decline signals that last year's elevated rents have corrected. Month-over-month is flat, so the adjustment appears to have stabilized for now.
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Apex, NC: The new children's hospital expected to bring 8,000 jobs to Apex gives the submarket a strong long-term demand case, but current pricing reflects a reset. At $1,895, Apex carries the highest median rent in this group, yet rents are down 10.2% year-over-year and the 14-day DOM is above the metro's faster-moving cities, so owners should price competitively to avoid extended vacancy.
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Wake Forest, NC: At $1,819 median rent and 16 days DOM, Wake Forest is the slowest-leasing city in this group, though the 0.8% month-over-month uptick and a modest 1.1% year-over-year gain suggest pricing is holding without giving back ground. The slightly longer leasing window means pricing precision matters more here than in tighter submarkets.
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Holly Springs, NC: Holly Springs posted a 0.7% month-over-month gain, a positive signal heading into summer, but rents are still down 4.2% year-over-year at $1,685. The 12-day DOM sits in the middle of the metro range, suggesting demand is adequate without being competitive enough to push rents back to prior-year levels quickly.
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Fuquay-Varina, NC: At $1,825 median rent, Fuquay-Varina prices above the metro median, but the 2.0% year-over-year decline and flat month-over-month movement indicate rents have drifted down from last year without recovering yet. The 13-day DOM is close to the metro average, so the market is moving, just not fast enough to absorb last year's overhang.
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Garner, NC: Garner is the fastest-leasing city in the metro at 7 days DOM, meaning well-priced homes here are essentially gone within a week. Rents are down 3.1% year-over-year at $1,603, but the leasing speed and a small 0.2% month-over-month nudge suggest the correction may be finding a floor.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — May 2026
Rent by Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham
Raleigh-Durham's median rent for a 3-bedroom home sits at $2,084 per month across the metro. From there, the step up to a 4-bedroom adds another $435, reaching $2,519, while rents range from $1,430 for a 1-bedroom all the way up through that 4-bedroom ceiling. The $762 spread between the smallest and largest unit types (a 43.4% gap) suggests larger homes capture meaningfully more rent per lease, so landlords with 3- and 4-bedroom properties have a clear pricing advantage over the smaller-unit competition.
| Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent (May 2026) |
|---|---|
| Studio | $1,757 |
| 1-Bedroom | $1,430 |
| 2-Bedroom | $1,739 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,084 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,519 |
| 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 $2,222 per month, $493 (28.5%) above the blended metro median of $1,729. The spread across property types is wide: townhouses sit $188 above the median at $1,918, while condos and apartments cluster near $1,590, roughly 8% below. Apartments lease in just 5 days versus the 11-day metro median, while single-family homes take 22 days, so landlords in that segment should price carefully from day one to avoid an extended vacancy.
| Property Type in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent | Avg. Days on Market | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Property Types (Blended) | $1,729 | 11 days | +0.2% |
| Single Family | $2,222 | 22 days | +0.1% |
| Condo | $1,588 | 30 days | +0.7% |
| Townhouse | $1,918 | 26 days | +0.1% |
| Apartment | $1,596 | 5 days | +0.0% |
| 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 rental homes across all property types, including days to lease. Trailing 12 months.
Data refreshed monthly. Doorstead benchmarks reflect managed properties only and may not be representative of the broader Raleigh-Durham rental market.