Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Raleigh-Durham. This is our October 2026 report, covering September 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 — September 2026
Here's where Raleigh-Durham rents landed in September 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.
Raleigh-Durham's median rent reached $1,691 in September 2026, up 2.13% year-over-year, with homes leasing in just 10 days — a pace that shows steady renter demand even as the market moves past its seasonal peak.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types, Raleigh-Durham) | $1,691 | +2.1% YoY |
| Avg. Days on Market | 10 days | — |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, September 2026.
What's Driving Raleigh-Durham Rental Market Conditions Right Now
Raleigh-Durham Rental Supply and New Construction
The multifamily pipeline is tightening fast across Raleigh-Durham, which sets up a better supply picture for landlords heading into 2027. Apartment deliveries dropped 63% year-over-year in Q1 2026, and total completions for the full year are projected around 6,000 units, roughly half of 2025's pace. The notable exception is the build-to-rent corridor in Southeast Raleigh, where more than 1,500 BTR units are under development, making it the second-largest BTR submarket concentration in the country. Landlords with single-family or townhome rentals in that corridor will face the most direct competition from new product.
Why People Rent in Raleigh-Durham
Renter demand in Raleigh-Durham keeps growing from multiple directions: Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State together funnel thousands of students, graduates, and medical/research staff into the rental pool each year, anchoring demand in corridors like Hillsborough Street, Cameron Village, and the Durham neighborhoods surrounding Duke's campus. At a 7.28% mortgage rate, buying is out of reach for most households, which keeps would-be buyers renting longer across the metro. That combination of institutional population inflows and a locked-up for-sale market means the renter pool stays deep even as the Triangle's peak leasing season winds down.
What This Means for Raleigh-Durham Landlords
The peak leasing season ran through early summer, so October puts you squarely in the slower second half. Expect softer foot traffic and more concessions on competing listings, particularly in Raleigh where inventory has been running higher. Price to lease now rather than hold out: a vacancy that sits through November is likely to cost you more than a modest rent concession would, and the supply picture tightening heading into 2027 means the next peak season should give you more leverage.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by City — September 2026
Raleigh leads the metro in leasing speed at just 7 days on market, with Cary, Garner, and Durham close behind at 9 days, signaling strong demand across the Triangle's core cities. Holly Springs is the softest spot in the table, sitting at 19 days on market, with Apex not far behind at 18 days. Most cities leased homes in under two weeks in September, making Holly Springs and Apex the clear exceptions to an otherwise tight market.
| City | Median Rent | 2BR Median | 3BR Median | Avg. DOM | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $1,603 | $1,710 | $2,007 | 7 days | +2.9% |
| Durham, NC | $1,714 | $1,822 | $2,172 | 9 days | +5.4% |
| Cary, NC | $1,736 | $1,751 | $2,149 | 9 days | -1.3% |
| Apex, NC | $1,858 | $1,800 | $2,125 | 18 days | -7.6% |
| Wake Forest, NC | $1,835 | $1,660 | $1,950 | 16 days | +1.8% |
| Holly Springs, NC | $1,738 | $1,706 | $1,995 | 19 days | +6.6% |
| Fuquay-Varina, NC* | $1,880 | $1,699 | $1,950 | 16 days | +4.4% |
| Garner, NC | $1,625 | $1,534 | $1,879 | 9 days | -4.1% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all property types, September 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 noisy figures. |
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Raleigh, NC: NC State's 36,000+ students drive concentrated rental demand along Hillsborough Street, Cameron Village, and the Centennial Campus corridors, while Downtown and Glenwood South attract young professionals to one of the metro's most walkable urban cores. Raleigh's median rent came in at $1,603 in September, the lowest among the cities tracked here, and homes leased in just 7 days, pointing to strong absorptive demand even as higher inventory and concessions weigh on the broader Raleigh market.
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Durham, NC: Trinity Park renters prize walkability to Duke University and the neighborhood's classic architecture, while East Durham posted the highest submarket occupancy in the metro at 95.7%. Durham's median rent rose 5.4% year-over-year to $1,714, and at 9 days DOM, homes leased quickly, consistent with the tighter supply conditions that have kept Durham rents steadier than much of the metro.
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Cary, NC: The South Cary/Apex submarket draws families with proximity to the US-1/I-540 interchange and highly rated Wake County schools, with nearly 1,800 multifamily units still under construction in the area. Cary's median rent was $1,736 in September, roughly flat month-over-month (+0.2%), though the 1.3% year-over-year dip suggests that new supply is applying modest downward pressure on rents over time.
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Apex, NC: Apex sits inside the same family-oriented South Cary/Apex submarket anchored by Apex High School's feeder zone and easy highway access. At $1,858 median rent, Apex carried the second-highest price point among suburbs tracked here, but the 7.6% year-over-year decline and 18-day DOM both point to a softer leasing environment, likely reflecting the weight of that ongoing construction pipeline in the submarket.
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Wake Forest, NC: Wake Forest posted the strongest month-over-month rent gain of any city in September, up 1.9% to a median of $1,835, and homes cleared in 16 days. That combination of rising rents and relatively quick leasing suggests demand held up well into the post-peak season here.
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Holly Springs, NC: Holly Springs led the metro in year-over-year rent growth at +6.6%, with a September median of $1,738. Homes took 19 days to lease, the slowest among the cities tracked, so while long-run rent appreciation has been strong, landlords should price carefully to avoid extended vacancy as the seasonal market slows.
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Fuquay-Varina, NC: Fuquay-Varina's median rent was $1,880 in September, the highest of any city in this table, and the 4.4% year-over-year gain shows that pricing power has held. At 16 days DOM, homes leased at a moderate pace, which is worth watching as the region moves further into its typical second-half moderation.
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Garner, NC: Garner tied Cary and Durham at 9 days DOM, just behind Raleigh's 7-day pace, while its $1,625 median rent makes it one of the more affordable options in the Triangle. Month-over-month rent was flat in September, and the 4.1% year-over-year decline suggests some softening, but the quick leasing pace indicates renters are still actively choosing Garner for its value relative to pricier suburbs.
Raleigh-Durham Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — September 2026
Rent by Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham
Rents across Raleigh-Durham scaled steadily with bedroom count in September, with the metro-wide median climbing from $1,320 for studios to $2,400 for 4-bedroom rentals, a $1,080 spread from smallest to largest. Each step up added meaningfully to monthly cost: studios to 1-bedrooms ran $107 more, 1-bedrooms to 2-bedrooms added $283, and the jump from 3-bedrooms to 4-bedrooms was the widest single step at $372. The 2-to-3-bedroom move was close behind at $318, which means renters shopping in the mid-to-large range faced the steepest per-step increases in the market. Owners of larger rentals captured noticeably more rent per unit, with 4-bedroom homes commanding 45% more than 2-bedrooms ($2,400 vs. $1,710).
| Bedroom Count in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent (September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Studio | $1,320 |
| 1-Bedroom | $1,427 |
| 2-Bedroom | $1,710 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,028 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,400 |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, September 2026. |
Rent by Property Type in Raleigh-Durham
Single-family homes commanded the highest rents in Raleigh-Durham in September 2026, with a median of $2,222, a $531 premium (31.4%) above the blended metro median of $1,691. Townhouses came in second at $1,960, sitting 15.9% above the blended figure, while condos and apartments both fell below it at $1,544 and $1,607 respectively. The days-on-market picture adds another layer: apartments leased fastest at just 5 days, compared to 33 days for condos and 29–30 days for townhouses and single-family homes. That gap suggests renters snapped up apartments quickly despite lower asking rents, while single-family landlords collected a substantial premium but absorbed a longer leasing period to get there.
| Property Type in Raleigh-Durham | Median Rent | Avg. Days on Market | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Property Types (Blended) | $1,691 | 10 days | +2.1% |
| Single Family | $2,222 | 30 days | +2.8% |
| Condo | $1,544 | 33 days | -0.5% |
| Townhouse | $1,960 | 29 days | -1.1% |
| Apartment | $1,607 | 5 days | +3.4% |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, Raleigh-Durham, September 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.