Near ‘double-digit’ drops: As new supply hits market, Triangle rents keep falling

As new amenity-rich Class A buildings hit the market, rents continue to be slashed across the Triangle.

In some markets, the drop is almost in the double digits, data shows.

In Raleigh, the median rent for one-bedroom apartments (the mid-point where half cost less and half cost more) stood at $1,260 in August, according to Zumper’s latest rent report . That’s down 3.8% month-over-month and 9.4% from a year ago.

The median rent for two-bedroom apartments stood at $1,560, down 2.5% month-over-month and 4.9% from 2023.

Of 100 cities nationwide, Raleigh was the 59th most expensive for renters.

In Durham, the median rent for one-bedroom apartments was $1,470 in August. That’s down 2.1% month-over-month and 6.4% from last year, Zumper found.

Two-bedroom units stood at $1,690 — a 0.6% drop month-over-month and down 8% from 2023.

Durham ranked as the 40th most expensive city.

For apartment hunters, the numbers may offer some relief amid inflation and the rising cost of living in the region.

But even with this cooling, one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents are still roughly $300 pricier in both Raleigh and Durham than they were in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Zumper data shows.

The national rent index showed that the median one-bedroom rent is up 1.6% annually to $1,534, while two-bedrooms climbed 2.7% to $1,915.

Raleigh’s ‘construction spree’

Despite higher borrowing costs , Raleigh-Cary continues to see a major uptick in new rental construction.

Some 9,228 new apartments are set to be completed by the end of this year, outpacing major metros like Boston or Los Angeles, according to a new report from the listing service RentCafe.

As the region’s growth surges, Raleigh proper is the top builder with 6,392 units set to open this year, the report found. (Wake Forest and Cary follow at a great distance with 917 and 559 units, respectively.)

“New construction is everywhere,” Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s Will Gaskin said at last month’s State of Downtown at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh.

And deliveries aren’t expected to stop anytime soon.

In downtown Raleigh alone, 17 developments are under construction, according to Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s second-quarter market report . When completed, projects will deliver 1,811 residential units, 410 hotel rooms and 137,266 square feet of retail space, DRA said. An additional 45 planned and proposed developments would bring 7,381 residential units.

The stabilized apartment occupancy rate is 93.6% and average asking rents are $2.17 per square foot.