Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Raleigh-Durham. This is our July 2026 report, covering June 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 — June 2026
Here's where Raleigh-Durham rents stand as of June 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.
Raleigh-Durham median rent sits at $1,733 in June 2026, down 2.4% year-over-year but essentially flat month-over-month (+0.03%), and homes are leasing in just 11 days — a pace that points to strong underlying demand even as rents work through last year's supply overhang. With household formation running at 3.4% annually and mortgage lock-in keeping would-be buyers renting, landlords who price at market right now are filling vacancies fast.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types, Raleigh-Durham) | $1,733 | +0.0% MoM |
| Avg. Days on Market | 11 days | — |
| Rent Growth YoY | -2.4% | — |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, June 2026.
What's Driving Raleigh-Durham Rental Market Conditions Right Now
Raleigh-Durham Rental Supply and New Construction
The construction wave is finally breaking. Completions across all rental types — apartments, townhomes, condos, and single-family rentals — peaked above 13,000 units in 2024, held near 12,000 in 2025, and are tracking toward roughly 6,000 in 2026, about half last year's volume. A handful of notable projects are still coming online, including Crescent Communities' 400-unit Novel UHill in Durham and Hoffman & Associates' 400-apartment Union West above Raleigh's downtown bus station, but most submarkets have seen the pipeline thin out considerably.
Why People Rent in Raleigh-Durham
Raleigh-Durham keeps drawing people in: the metro'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. With the 30-year mortgage sitting at 6.49% and roughly 80% of existing homeowners locked into sub-6% rates, would-be buyers are staying put as renters longer than they planned, and corridors like Brier Creek (10 minutes from Research Triangle Park), East Durham (the metro's tightest submarket at 95.7% occupancy), and walkable neighborhoods like Five Points and Glenwood South keep pulling them to specific ZIP codes. Unlike most Sun Belt markets where migration has cooled since 2022, Raleigh-Durham remains one of only four metros still attracting domestic inflows comparable to the 2021 surge.
What This Means for Raleigh-Durham Landlords
You're at the end of the best leasing window of the year: May through July is peak season in the Triangle, when renter competition runs highest and your negotiating leverage is strongest, so price at or just below market now to lease fast and avoid carrying vacancy into the slower fall. With supply dropping by half this year and demand holding firm, landlords who are patient on price this spring should have more leverage at renewal time heading into 2027.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by City — June 2026
Garner and Durham lead the table at 7 days on market, the fastest leasing pace in Raleigh-Durham right now. Apex and Wake Forest sit at the soft end, averaging 14 days, with Apex showing the only notable month-over-month slowdown alongside minor cooling in Cary and Raleigh. Six of the eight cities are leasing in under two weeks, so demand is broad-based, with Apex and Wake Forest as the outliers.
| City | Median Rent | 2BR Median | 3BR Median | Avg. DOM | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $1,732 | $2,153 | $2,385 | 9 days | -0.1% |
| Durham, NC | $1,683 | $1,817 | $2,200 | 7 days | +0.2% |
| Cary, NC | $1,630 | $1,648 | $1,975 | 9 days | -0.1% |
| Apex, NC | $1,891 | $1,868 | $2,195 | 14 days | +0.1% |
| Wake Forest, NC | $1,850 | $1,629 | $1,999 | 14 days | +0.0% |
| Holly Springs, NC | $1,648 | $1,643 | $1,995 | 12 days | +0.0% |
| Fuquay-Varina, NC | $1,850 | $1,650 | $1,950 | 12 days | +0.0% |
| Garner, NC | $1,580 | $1,575 | $1,944 | 7 days | +0.1% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all property types, June 2026. Median Rent is across all property types. |
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Raleigh, NC: Renters cluster in walkable neighborhoods like Downtown/Glenwood South and family-friendly corridors near North Hills, with central Raleigh absorbing 3,169 units at 95% occupancy. At $1,732 median rent and 9 days on market, Raleigh is leasing quickly and holding steady, with rent up 3.2% year-over-year and MoM essentially flat, a durable performer through the heart of peak leasing season.
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Durham, NC: Trinity Park renters prize the neighborhood's mature tree canopy and walkability to Duke University, and East Durham posted the highest submarket occupancy in the entire metro at 95.7%. Durham backs that up at the city level: 7-day DOM is the fastest in this table, median rent climbed 3.4% year-over-year to $1,683, and MoM ticked up 0.2%, signaling active demand with no sign of softening heading into summer.
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Cary, NC: At $1,630 median rent and 9 days on market, Cary leases as quickly as Raleigh, but the YoY figure of -2.8% points to some rent correction from prior highs. Month-over-month is roughly flat at -0.1%, so the slide appears to be stabilizing rather than accelerating.
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Apex, NC: At $1,891, Apex carries the highest median rent on this list, but the -10.0% YoY drop is the sharpest correction in the metro. DOM sits at 14 days, the slowest alongside Wake Forest, and MoM is nearly flat at +0.1%, suggesting the market is finding a floor after significant repricing.
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Wake Forest, NC: Median rent of $1,850 and a 14-day DOM put Wake Forest in the slower half of this table, consistent with suburbs that saw supply additions outpace leasing demand over the past year. Rent is essentially unchanged on both a monthly (+0.0%) and annual (+0.3%) basis, pointing to a market that has stabilized but has not yet built momentum.
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Holly Springs, NC: At $1,648 median rent, Holly Springs sits mid-pack on price, but the -9.8% YoY decline is nearly as steep as Apex, pointing to meaningful rent correction over the past 12 months. DOM of 12 days and a flat MoM (+0.0%) suggest leasing activity is steady at the reset price level, not deteriorating further.
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Fuquay-Varina, NC: Fuquay-Varina and Wake Forest share the same $1,850 median rent and similar leasing pace at 12 days, but Fuquay-Varina's YoY is a far more stable +0.8%, putting it in a different position than the correcting suburbs to its north. Flat MoM and positive annual growth together suggest this submarket absorbed its new supply without the pricing overhang visible in Apex or Holly Springs.
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Garner, NC: Garner is the most affordable city on this list at $1,580 median rent, and it moves fast: 7-day DOM ties Durham for the quickest leasing pace in the metro. The -4.5% YoY dip reflects some repricing, but with MoM at +0.1% and inventory clearing in under a week, renters are actively absorbing available stock at the current price point.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — June 2026
Rent by Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham
Raleigh-Durham rents climb steadily from 1-bedroom through 4-bedroom, but the relationship between studios and 1-bedrooms inverts that pattern: studios median out at $1,684, while 1-bedrooms come in $248 lower at $1,436. From there, each step up adds meaningful dollars, with the 2-bedroom median at $1,748, 3-bedroom at $2,080, and 4-bedroom at $2,549. The biggest single jump in the table is the move from 3-bedroom to 4-bedroom, a $469 gap that outpaces every other step-up. Across the full spread, the distance from the lowest tier (1-bedroom at $1,436) to the highest (4-bedroom at $2,549) is $1,113, giving owners of larger homes a notable rent ceiling to work with.
| Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent (June 2026) |
|---|---|
| Studio | $1,684 |
| 1-Bedroom | $1,436 |
| 2-Bedroom | $1,748 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,080 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,549 |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings across all property types, Raleigh-Durham, June 2026. |
Rent by Property Type in Raleigh-Durham
Single-family homes sit at the top of the Raleigh-Durham market by a wide margin, with a median rent of $2,210 in June 2026, which is $477 (27.5%) above the blended metro median of $1,733. Townhouses land in the middle at $1,971, a 13.7% premium over the blend, while condos and apartments both rent below it at $1,521 and $1,587, respectively. The days-on-market spread is just as striking: apartments lease in 5 days on average, while condos sit for 30 days before finding a tenant, a six-fold difference that suggests pricing sensitivity is especially sharp at the lower end of the market. Single-family homes average 20 days to lease despite commanding the highest rents, which points to steady demand rather than a price-resistance problem.
| Property Type in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent | Avg. Days on Market | MoM Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Property Types (Blended) | $1,733 | 11 days | +0.0% |
| Single Family | $2,210 | 20 days | -0.1% |
| Condo | $1,521 | 30 days | +0.0% |
| Townhouse | $1,971 | 26 days | -0.2% |
| Apartment | $1,587 | 5 days | +0.2% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, June 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.