Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Raleigh-Durham. This is our August 2026 report, covering July 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 — July 2026
Here's where Raleigh-Durham rents landed in July 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.
Raleigh-Durham's median rent slipped to $1,720 in July 2026, down 3.13% from a year ago, as new supply continues to absorb strong inbound demand. The silver lining for landlords: homes leased in just 10 days, signaling that renters are still active and well-priced vacancies move fast.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types, Raleigh-Durham) | $1,720 | -0.4% MoM |
| Avg. Days on Market | 10 days | — |
| Rent Growth YoY | -3.1% | — |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, July 2026.
What's Driving Raleigh-Durham Rental Market Conditions Right Now
Raleigh-Durham Rental Supply and New Construction
New construction is tapering fast across Raleigh-Durham, and that shift matters for every rental property type. Starts collapsed roughly 62% year-over-year, with developers breaking ground on only 1,612 units in the first half of 2026 versus 4,238 during the same stretch of 2025. The roughly 9,856 units still underway skew heavily upscale (78% of the pipeline), and they cluster in two corridors: Durham's University Hill and Trinity Park areas near Duke, and Raleigh's downtown-to-Midtown spine stretching from the bus station district up through North Hills, where mixed-use towers are adding new luxury inventory in 2026.
Why People Rent in Raleigh-Durham
Renter demand in Raleigh-Durham keeps getting fed from outside the metro. Durham alone draws over 60% of its apartment searches from out-of-towners, mostly people leaving pricier markets like Charlotte, Atlanta, and the larger Raleigh core who want more space for less money. On top of that, the broader Triangle is expected to absorb 500,000 new residents and 50,000 new tech jobs by 2026, and with the 30-year mortgage rate sitting at 6.66%, buying remains expensive enough that a large share of those arrivals are staying renters longer than they might have planned. School district access is a pull factor too: families specifically target properties zoned to Wake County and Durham Public Schools, with schools like Green Hope High (ranked #16 in North Carolina) driving locator decisions in ways that go well beyond price.
What This Means for Raleigh-Durham Landlords
The peak leasing window (spring through early summer) closed in July, so renter traffic is starting to thin now that August has arrived. Rents slipped 3.13% year-over-year, but homes were still moving in just 10 days last month, so price your vacancy at or just under market to capture the remaining summer movers before the fall slowdown takes hold.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by City — July 2026
Raleigh led the table in June at just 6 days on market, with Garner, Durham, and Cary close behind at 8 days, pointing to broad, fast-moving demand across the metro's core cities. Fuquay-Varina was the softest spot, leasing in 13 days with rents nudging up 0.4% month-over-month, while Apex showed the sharpest rent correction at -2.6% MoM despite a respectable 12-day leasing pace. Six of the eight tracked cities leased in 13 days or fewer, so the market as a whole is moving quickly, with the outer suburbs of Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, and Fuquay-Varina trailing the core by a few days or more.
| City | Median Rent | 2BR Median | 3BR Median | Avg. DOM | MoM Change | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $1,574 | $1,726 | $2,011 | 6 days | -0.0% | -1.5% |
| Durham, NC | $1,665 | $1,699 | $2,146 | 8 days | +0.1% | +3.4% |
| Cary, NC | $1,720 | $1,736 | $2,153 | 8 days | -0.2% | -0.1% |
| Apex, NC | $1,845 | $1,775 | $2,195 | 12 days | -2.6% | -12.1% |
| Wake Forest, NC | $1,840 | $1,645 | $1,975 | 13 days | -0.3% | -2.1% |
| Holly Springs, NC | $1,668 | $1,668 | $1,995 | 13 days | +0.0% | -7.9% |
| Fuquay-Varina, NC* | $1,874 | $1,725 | $1,990 | 13 days | +0.4% | +2.7% |
| Garner, NC | $1,572 | $1,546 | $1,900 | 8 days | -0.4% | -7.5% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all property types, July 2026. Median Rent is across all property types. | ||||||
| * Fewer than 10 active listings this month, so per-city figures in flagged rows should be interpreted with caution — small samples can produce large month-over-month swings. |
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Raleigh, NC: Walkable neighborhoods like Glenwood South and the North Hills corridor attract renters who want urban-lite convenience, and the 2026 arrival of The Strand's luxury units adds new competition at the top of the market. At $1,574 median rent and just 6 days on market in July, Raleigh leased faster than any other city in this table, and rents held virtually flat month-over-month, suggesting steady demand even as the YoY figure slipped 1.5%.
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Durham, NC: Trinity Park renters prize walkability to Duke University, Brightleaf's warehouse-district energy draws younger professionals, and over 60% of apartment searches in Durham originate from out-of-towners priced out of larger markets. Durham's median rent rose 3.4% year-over-year to $1,665 in July, the strongest annual gain in the table, and at 8 days on market units are leasing quickly enough that owners have real room to hold price.
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Cary, NC: At $1,720 median rent and 8 days on market in July, Cary leased as quickly as Durham while sitting $55 above it in price. Month-over-month rent dipped just 0.2% and the YoY figure was nearly flat at -0.1%, so this market is effectively holding its ground rather than softening in any meaningful way.
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Apex, NC: Median rent fell 2.6% month-over-month to $1,845 in July, the sharpest single-month drop in the table, and the 12.1% year-over-year decline is the steepest annual correction across all eight cities. At 12 days on market, Apex is still moving reasonably quickly, but owners here should price carefully: the data points to a supply-demand imbalance that monthly asking prices need to reflect.
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Wake Forest, NC: At $1,840 median rent and 13 days on market in July, Wake Forest was among the slower-leasing cities in this table, and rents were down 2.1% year-over-year. The 0.3% month-over-month dip is small on its own, but paired with that annual trend it suggests owners should resist holding out for last year's pricing.
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Holly Springs, NC: Median rent came in at $1,668 in July, down 7.9% year-over-year, one of the larger annual declines in the table. At 13 days on market and flat month-over-month, demand appears stable at current price levels, but owners pricing to 2025 benchmarks will likely sit vacant longer than necessary.
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Fuquay-Varina, NC: Fuquay-Varina was the table's top performer on rent direction in July: the $1,874 median rose 0.4% month-over-month and 2.7% year-over-year, the only city outside Durham to post positive annual rent growth. At 13 days on market, leasing pace is on the slower side, but the upward price trend suggests patient owners are getting their number.
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Garner, NC: Garner posted the lowest median rent in the table at $1,572 in July, down 7.5% year-over-year, a notable annual slide that puts it alongside Holly Springs for the steepest corrections. The 8-day DOM shows units are moving quickly once priced right, so the correction here looks more like a market recalibration than a demand problem.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — July 2026
Rent by Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham
Studios are the anomaly in Raleigh-Durham's rent ladder. At a metro-wide median of $2,155, they priced $740 above 1-bedrooms ($1,415 in July) and even outpaced 4-bedroom rentals ($2,442) by just $287. From 1-bedrooms upward, the progression is orderly: each additional bedroom added between $275 and $396, pushing the range from $1,415 to $2,442. That $1,027 spread across the 1-through-4-bedroom tiers gives owners of larger homes a meaningful rent premium, but the studio inversion is the number that stands out.
| Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent (July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Studio | $2,155 |
| 1-Bedroom | $1,415 |
| 2-Bedroom | $1,690 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,046 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,442 |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, July 2026. |
Rent by Property Type in Raleigh-Durham
Single-family homes commanded the highest rents in Raleigh-Durham in July 2026, with a median of $2,265, or $545 (31.7%) above the blended metro median of $1,720. Apartments sat at the opposite end of the spectrum at $1,562, a $158 (9.2%) discount to the blended median, but they leased fastest at just 5 days on market. Townhouses landed in the middle at $1,995, a $275 (16.0%) premium, while condos came in below the blended median at $1,614. The sharpest DOM contrast was between single-family homes at 21 days and apartments at 5 days, a gap that reflects how different buyer pools and price points drive leasing pace across property types.
| Property Type in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent | Avg. Days on Market | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Property Types (Blended) | $1,720 | 10 days | -0.4% |
| Single Family | $2,265 | 21 days | +0.4% |
| Condo | $1,614 | 29 days | +1.1% |
| Townhouse | $1,995 | 28 days | +2.1% |
| Apartment | $1,562 | 5 days | -0.3% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, July 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.